Sustainability key to diversifying Indonesian nickel investment PT Vale tells Benchmark’s Giga APAC conference 

Integrating higher sustainability standards is key to promoting diversified investment in Indonesia’s nickel sector, PT Vale Indonesia’s Chief Executive Officer Febriany Eddy and Chief Strategy and Technical Officer Luke Mahony told delegates at Giga APAC in Perth last week.

“Customers and governments are starting to realise the importance of diversifying investment in the Indonesian nickel sector. And ESG is key to this,” said Eddy.

Indonesia’s nickel industry has experienced a boom in recent years, as supply has risen from 120,000 tonnes in 2015 to over 2.2 million tonnes in 2023, according to the Benchmark Nickel Forecast. But investment in the sector has been overwhelmingly dominated by China and dogged by persistent concerns around environmental, social, governance (ESG) standards.

The extraction of laterite nickel ore in Indonesia involves land clearing, which threatens valuable carbon sinks and biodiversity. Electricity consumption is also predominantly supplied by coal-fired power plants, contributing a higher carbon-intensity per tonne of nickel produced.

The Indonesia government wants to diversify the ownership of nickel projects to reduce reliance on a single trade partner and ensure its nickel qualifies for tax credits under the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

Discussing the recent expansion of Indonesia’s SIMBARA platform into the nickel sector, a system that allows officials to monitor mining activity by tracing ore from mine to smelter, Eddy suggested it was an ‘extremely important’ first step for improving sustainability standards.

“We’re starting to see the change around expectations of sustainability, standards are higher to get financing,” said Mahony. “And that’s the key part as we start to diversify equity ownership of the nickel and look to other markets outside of China.”

Embracing Chinese technology partners

Discussing the proliferation of high pressure acid leach (HPAL) plants in Indonesia, Mahony said that Chinese technological advancements had revolutionised the nickel market and transformed project economics.

“China has transformed HPAL in terms of capital efficiency,” he said. “Previously the technology required capital deployment of $60-70,000/tonne of nickel installed. Today capex is below $20,000/tonne of nickel in some cases, while the ramp up period has gone from years to months.”

“From an economic perspective there are now huge margins in an HPAL. It enables development projects to downstream further into pure nickel plays,” he added.

The number of planned HPAL projects in Indonesia has risen rapidly since the successful commissioning and ramp-up of Indonesia’s first plant in 2021. According to Benchmark, battery-targeted nickel supply from these operations to increase from 254,000 tonnes in 2024 to over 1 million tonnes by 2028.

“We will struggle to compete with the Chinese on HPAL technology,” Mahony added. “We have to embrace and partner with technology. The question is really from an equity point of view, on where the ownership will lie.”

PT Vale Indonesia is developing two battery-focused high pressure acid leach (HPAL) plant’s in Indonesia with China’s Huayou Cobalt, one of which includes the Ford Motor Company as partner with a view to supply into the ex-China market.

“It’s a three way agreement. We bring the sustainably mined ore, the Chinese bring the efficient technology to process the minerals, and Ford helps us in terms of financing, ESG, and access to market,” Eddy said.

Opportunities for collaboration

As Indonesia looks to leverage its large nickel reserves to build a battery and electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem and become a key player in the global battery supply chain, the panellists discussed how collaboration with international partners would be important – particularly with close neighbours such as Australia.

“Indonesia doesn’t have lithium and that is a possible area where collaboration between two countries could be improved,” said Eddy.

“Australia may also bring some mining best practices to Indonesia and change the mining landscape of the country,” she added.

Mahony concurred, noting that while the build out of Indonesia’s vast industrial parks had been successful in rapidly growing the country’s nickel supply base, the development had largely been at the expense of ESG considerations.

Moving forward, he suggested it was critical to replicate this success with a stronger ESG emphasis would be crucial, which presented an opportunity for Australian involvement.

“We must ensure all growth is sustainable. This includes fixing the current base line of what we already have,” he added.

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