BASF SE and Eramet SA plan to spend as much as $2.6 billion building a nickel-cobalt refinery in Indonesia, expanding a wave of investment in the Southeast Asian nation aimed at feeding growing demand from electric vehicles.
(Bloomberg) — BASF SE and Eramet SA plan to spend as much as $2.6 billion building a nickel-cobalt refinery in Indonesia, expanding a wave of investment in the Southeast Asian nation aimed at feeding growing demand from electric vehicles.
The project, known as Sonic Bay, will produce about 67,000 tons of nickel and 7,500 tons of cobalt a year, Indonesia’s Investment Ministry said in a statement. The two companies expect to finalize an agreement on the plant in the first half of this year, the statement cites BASF’s Chief Executive Officer Martin Brudermüller as saying.
Indonesia aims to be a global hub for the EV supply chain and is already home to a swathe of projects — many of them Chinese-backed — to make battery-grade nickel. Tesla Inc., and China’s BYD Co. are finalizing deals to build car plants in the country, a senior minister said on Tuesday.
The BASF-Eramet facility at Sonic Bay would produce nickel chemicals in a high-pressure acid leach plant, and total planned investment is estimated at $2.2 billion to $2.6 billion, according to the Indonesia statement. The planned location is at Weda Bay in North Maluku.
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