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Indonesia says nickel reserves enough for growth, regardless of moratorium call

Indonesia's nickel reserves suffice for expanded processing operations, an investment ministry authorities stated on Wednesday, amidst calls from a miners' group to curb building and construction of brand-new smelters to relieve a global excess.

Indonesia banned exports of nickel ore in 2020 to motivate domestic worth addition, resulting in enormous financial investment to produce nickel pig iron (NPI) and product for electrical car batteries.

High-grade nickel reserves will last till 2035, with low-grade nickel supply enough up until a minimum of 2069, Mohamad Faizal, the ministry's director for downstream strategic financial investment, told a conference in Jakarta, the capital.

Indonesia's top-quality 1.7% nickel ore is used primarily to produce NPI, a feedstock for stainless steel, with EV batteries utilizing the lower grade nickel.

These reveal potential for more growth in both stainless-steel and high-pressure leaching acid plants, Faizal informed individuals in the conference arranged by consultancy Mysteel, referring to extraction of product for batteries.

The reserves are sufficient to position Indonesia among the top 5 EV battery producers and top two stainless steel makers by 2040, he said. The southeast Asian nation's first EV battery plant is set to finish building this year.

Faizal included that smelters can continue to be constructed if they produced different types of products.

Indonesia was blamed for a drop of 45% last year in nickel prices, due to oversupply, which is squeezing manufacturers in Australia and in other places.

The Indonesia Nickel Miners Association (APNI) has actually prompted the government to enforce a moratorium on new pyrometallurgy plants to extend the life time of top-quality reserves, its secretary-general, Meidy Katrin Lengkey, told the exact same conference.

Indonesia's top-quality ore reserves may be depleted in about 6 years, APNI warned in 2015.

We require to stop it ... However maybe we need to wait for the brand-new government, she stated on Wednesday, including that domestic processing ore intake will increase 34% this year.

A senior project authorities with president-elect Prabowo Subianto stated he had proposed a moratorium for brand-new smelters to the inbound president, however no choice has been made yet.

Indonesia can increase reserves by checking out for brand-new resources, although that is made complex as a lot of possible mines lie in areas designated as forest, Lengkey said.