By Fransiska Nangoy
JAKARTA (Reuters) -Chinese battery material maker CNGR Advanced Material Co is planning to build an integrated production facility worth $10 billion in nickel-rich Indonesia, a local official for the company said on Wednesday.
The investment will take place over 10 to 15 years and the company is looking for a suitable location for the plant, Magdalena Veronika, a director at CNGR Indonesia told reporters.
She said the project has been granted national strategic project status from the government, which will provide certain benefits including land procurement. It will require 3,000 to 5,000 hectares (7,413 to 12,355 acres) of land, she added.
“The investment can reach $10.5 billion which will be divided into three stages,” she said.
The project is the latest venture by a Chinese-backed firm in top nickel miner Indonesia, which banned nickel ore exports in 2020 to try to establish a fully integrated battery industry and electric vehicle ecosystem at home.
CNGR, which already produces Class-1 nickel product from Indonesia, aims to produce battery precursor products at the planned new facility, Veronika said.
The company is also open to have their partners build a processing plant at their planned site.
“Our clients has said that once an integrated facility has been built, they would be happy to join us,” she said, with CNGR focusing their investment in battery materials while other companies may invest in battery or other products.
(Reporting by Fransiska Nangoy; Writing by Stefanno Sulaiman; Editing by Tom Hogue, Martin Petty and Michael Perry)
