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Indonesia discovers ‘huge’ lithium deposit, Minister Luhut claims
Indonesia holds the world’s largest nickel reserves, but it lacks lithium, a material deemed equally important to produce EV batteries.
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A worker checks a pile of nickel pig iron (NPI) produced in the Morowali industrial park in Bahodopi district, Morowali regency, Central Sulawesi, on Oct. 18. The development of the industrial complex is slated for full completion in 2019, when it is expected to reach the annual capacity of producing 2 million tonnes of NPI and 3 million tonnes of stainless-steel slab.
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ndonesia has found significant lithium deposits, a senior minister said on Friday, but without disclosing any further information on the size and amount of the discovery nor whether it could be commercially viable for extraction.
Indonesia holds the world’s largest nickel reserves, a strong selling point for a country striving to become a global electric vehicle (EV) hub, but it lacks a domestic supply of lithium, a material deemed equally important to produce EV batteries.
“Yesterday, I received a report that a huge lithium deposit has been discovered in Indonesia. But it is also confusing. As we have all this, the next government will have lots of tasks to tackle,” Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said in a meeting broadcast live on Friday.
Global demand for EV batteries is projected to grow 30 percent annually, reaching close to 4,500 gigawatt-hours (GWh) globally by 2030, McKinsey & Company said in a report.
The management consulting firm also said it expected the battery value chain to increase tenfold between 2020 and 2030 to an annual revenue of US$410 billion.
As battery demand rises, so does demand for the materials required to produce it.
By 2030, batteries are expected to account for 95 percent of lithium demand, and the total need will grow annually by 25 to 26 percent to reach 3.3 million to 3.8 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent, according to the report published by McKinsey last year.
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