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makers’ high nickel ambitions rest on the success of HPAL as 2020 sees new wave of projects approach production","battery-makers-high-nickel-ambitions-rest-on-the-success-of-hpal-as-2020-sees-new-wave-of-projects-approach-production","article/battery-makers-high-nickel-ambitions-rest-on-the-success-of-hpal-as-2020-sees-new-wave-of-projects-approach-production",{"_uid":557,"date":558,"tags":559,"editor":560,"content":570,"excerpt":618,"featured":50,"reporter":619,"_editable":623,"component":624,"seo_title":553,"categories":625,"visibility":629,"author_company":49,"featured_image":630,"seo_description":618,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":635,"formattedArticleDate":636},"dcc2a2d6-dffc-4ffb-b8bc-21643c778ce0","2020-05-11 00:00",[],[561],{"slug":562,"name":563,"content":564},"didi-bostock","Didi Bostock",{"job_title":565,"image":566,"bio":568,"linkedin":569},"Editor - Energy Transition & Economics",{"filename":567},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/2c5ca5c1a3/didi-bostock.jpeg","Didi is the Energy Transition & Economics Editor at Benchmark, covering a broad range of markets across the energy transition. His remit spans from downstream sectors such as BESS and EVs, through to midstream such as new technologies and battery production, to upstream critical minerals mining. He also leads on financial analysis across these supply chains, alongside in-depth policy analysis.\n","https://www.linkedin.com/in/didi-bostock-656342198/",{"type":571,"content":572},"doc",[573,580,585,590,593,598,603,608,613],{"type":574,"attrs":575,"content":576},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[577],{"text":578,"type":579},"Benchmark Minerals’ Nickel forecast shows a wave of new HPAL (high pressure acid leach) production coming online in the 2020s as the industry ramps up production routes for MHP and nickel sulphate to meet the demands of battery producers chasing higher energy-density cathodes.","text",{"type":574,"attrs":581,"content":582},{"textAlign":49},[583],{"text":584,"type":579},"In April, First Quantum Minerals (FQM) confirmed it continues to work towards production at its Ravensthorpe nickel laterite HPAL project in Western Australia, with first shipment expected in H1 2020.",{"type":574,"attrs":586,"content":587},{"textAlign":49},[588],{"text":589,"type":579},"While nickel sulphides would typically be the preferred choice of raw material from a battery supply chain perspective — due to higher grades and lower-costs — a lack of new resources has shifted the market’s expansion focus towards laterites.",{"type":574,"attrs":591,"content":592},{"textAlign":49},[],{"type":574,"attrs":594,"content":595},{"textAlign":49},[596],{"text":597,"type":579},"FQM restarted its acid plant and atmospheric leaching operations in March 2020, and the first HPAL circuit was brought online in mid-April, with the second scheduled to come online in by H2 2020. Product drying and containerising of MHP (mixed hydroxide precipitate) was also commenced at the project in April.",{"type":574,"attrs":599,"content":600},{"textAlign":49},[601],{"text":602,"type":579},"MHP, an intermediate product of nickel laterite ore, is an increasingly important feedstock in nickel sulphate production, with the majority of expansions coming from laterite deposits, particularly as nickel consumption from the lithium ion supply chain increases. Downstream lithium ion supply chain cathode producers looking to secure their nickel supply to match long term capacity expansions are increasingly looking to source MHP directly rather than purchasing nickel sulphate.",{"type":574,"attrs":604,"content":605},{"textAlign":49},[606],{"text":607,"type":579},"This supply chain is not without risks, however, with HPAL projects demonstrating a number of technical challenges that have hindered growth in these projects over recent years.",{"type":574,"attrs":609,"content":610},{"textAlign":49},[611],{"text":612,"type":579},"While, at present, nickel intermediates from Indonesia do not commonly enter the battery supply chain, Benchmark Minerals’ Nickel Forecast shows that 3,000 tonnes of nickel in MHP from new HPAL projects will come online in 2020, as several Indonesian projects, including PT Halmahera Persada Lygend on Obi Island and Tsingshan-GEM-CATL project at Morowali industrial park, are set to begin commissioning in late 2020. However, as Indonesia struggles to contain the spread of the coronavirus these timelines may be pushed back into 2021 and capex increases at these projects are likely.",{"type":574,"attrs":614,"content":615},{"textAlign":49},[616],{"text":617,"type":579},"Benchmark’s Nickel Forecast shows 220,000 per annum of new nickel supply, across six projects, coming from Indonesia’s HPAL projects by 2025. Indonesia’s share of global nickel production is set to increase from 16% in 2019 to 38% in 2025 as the country takes a more prominent role in the wider nickel market and battery supply chain.","Benchmark Minerals’ Nickel forecast shows a wave of new HPAL (high pressure acid leach) production coming online in the 2020s as the industry ramps up production routes for MHP and nickel sulphate to meet the demands of battery producers chasing higher energy-density cathodes. In April, First Quantum Minerals (FQM) confirmed it continues to work towards production […]",[620],{"slug":562,"name":563,"content":621},{"job_title":565,"image":622,"bio":568,"linkedin":569},{"filename":567},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"dcc2a2d6-dffc-4ffb-b8bc-21643c778ce0\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[626],{"slug":627,"name":628},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals","private",{"id":49,"alt":631,"name":631,"focus":631,"title":631,"source":631,"filename":632,"copyright":631,"fieldtype":633,"meta_data":634,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/db80bbbb22/bm-fqm-ravensthorpe.jpg","asset",{"alt":631,"title":631,"source":631,"copyright":631},"May 11, 2020","11th May 2020",[],[],1792773940561]