PT Merdeka Battery Materials Tbk, (MBM) has taken a strategic step in its business development with plans to build a high pressure acid leaching (HPAL) plant in Konawe Industrial Park (IKIP), Indonesia, with the goal of being able to produce by 2025.
On July 17, 2023, PT MBM said: "MBM plans to develop HPAL processing capacity at IKIP and is currently in active discussions with potential HPAL joint venture partners."
According to him, the plan for the HPAL plant will give MBM further exposure to the strategic mineral value chain and electric vehicle batteries, which will leverage SCM's large limonite resources with a planned capacity of 120,000 tonnes.
MBM said that the HPAL plant development will produce nickel intermediates to meet the demand of the electric vehicle battery raw material supply chain, and is scheduled to be commissioned in the next two years, 2025, to supply downstream precursor raw materials, which will then be used in the production of electric vehicle batteries.
In terms of supply of raw ore, MBM is supplied by its own mining company PT Sulawesi Cahaya Mineral (SCM). Mastery of SCM is the result of the acquisition of MBM, which bought a majority stake in SCM as a long-term strategy to grow its business. MBM owns 51.0% of PT Sulawesi Cahaya Mineral (SCM mine), located in Conaway, south-eastern Sulawesi.
The SCM mine is estimated to contain the largest nickel resources in the world, with approximately 13.8 million tons of nickel (1.22% nickel) and 1 million tons of cobalt (0.08% cobalt). Prior to MBM's control, the SCM mine was owned by Rio Tinto, a large, close to the surface, low-cost opencast mine with a concession of 21,100 hectares. In addition, MBM explained that SCM mines also have rich resources of limonite nickel, which is composed of a mixture of limonite nickel (77%) and sapropelic nickel (23%). MBM believes that SCM's rich mine resources will support the supply of nickel ore feedstock for downstream operations for decades.
Currently, MBM has a joint venture with Aoyama to develop the Konawe Industrial Zone (IKIP), an industrial zone focused on raw materials for future batteries, covering approximately 3,500 hectares. The IKIP Integrated Mine will be jointly developed and operated by MBM and Aoyama within the SCM Mining concession, subject to an ongoing licensing agreement.
The collaboration with Aoyama allows MBM to leverage Aoyama's proven track record and experience in developing IMIP and PT Indonesia's Weda Bay industrial parks. In IKIP, MBM will focus on nickel processing using hydrometallurgical methods via HPAL technology. IKIP will operate with a strong focus on ESG.
