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Australia’s Nickel Industries’ HPAL smelter plan to enter FID stage soon
An Australian nickel company is preparing to finalize a plan to construct a high-pressure acid leaching (HPAL) smelting facility at the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) in Central Sulawesi.
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The Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) in Central Sulawesi is shown in this undated photo. (Courtesy of IMIP)
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n Australian nickel company is preparing to finalize a plan to construct a high-pressure acid leaching (HPAL) smelting facility at the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) in Central Sulawesi, with the company saying it will enter the final investment decision (FID) stage in “a matter of weeks”.
The smelter is to be built by Australia’s Nickel Industries and will process nickel limonite ore into mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) with a planned annual production capacity of around 72,000 tonnes of MHP.
Nickel Industries managing director Justin C. Werner said the company planned to fund 55 percent of the investment for the smelter, worth approximately US$2.3 billion, while the remaining portion would be financed by its partners.
“This smelter will produce MHP, nickel sulfate and nickel cathode, so three of the major class-one nickel products from the one plant,” Werner told reporters in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Read also: Indonesia lacks HPAL smelters to make battery materials
MHP is a nickel product with important uses in EV batteries, as opposed to fellow downstream nickel products ferronickel and nickel pig iron (NPI), which are typically used as raw material for stainless steel.
Ferronickel and nickel pig iron (NPI) are made with nickel ore of the saprolite type, which dominates Indonesia’s current production. The construction of more HPAL smelters would support Indonesia’s efforts to become a major EV producer.
