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Nickel Laterites

China-Backed $3 Billion Indonesia Nickel Smelter Risks Shutdown – by Eddie Spence and Alfred Cang (Bloomberg News/Financial Post – February 20, 2025)

https://financialpost.com/

One of the biggest nickel smelters in Indonesia has slashed production and is close to shutting down completely, just months after the collapse of its Chinese parent company.

(Bloomberg) — One of the biggest nickel smelters in Indonesia has slashed production and is close to shutting down completely, just months after the collapse of its Chinese parent company.

PT Gunbuster Nickel Industry, which is affiliated with bankrupted stainless steel giant Jiangsu Delong Nickel Industry Co., is delaying payments to local energy suppliers and is unable to procure nickel ore, according to people familiar with the situation.

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Nickel Industries CEO Justin Werner warns of ‘challenging’ future for Australian mining – by Duncan Evans (News.com.au – February 9, 2025)

https://www.news.com.au/

The man behind a booming mining company in Indonesia has issued a stark warning about 10,000 Aussie jobs.

The shock collapse of Australia’s nickel mining sector has threatened 10,000 high-paying jobs as a leading ASX-listed nickel miner warns bluntly those jobs are probably never coming back. That’s the view of Nickel Industries managing director Justin Werner, who leads the rising $3.3bn company with vast mining and refining operations in Indonesia.

“It is certainly challenging (for Australia) in the foreseeable future,” he told NewsWire from his home in Bali in a wide-ranging interview this week. “Even if the nickel price goes up, it’s about having a sustained nickel price above $20,000 (per tonne).

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Philippine lawmakers to approve bill to ban ore exports – by Cliff Venzon and Neil Jerome Morales (Bloomberg News – February 6, 2025)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

The Philippine Congress could ratify a bill banning raw mineral exports as soon as June, the Senate leader said on Thursday, a plan that investors warn could lead to mine closures.

Congress is on a break after this week and sessions resume in June, but Senate President Francis Escudero hopes there would be a bicameral committee meeting with members from both the Senate and the House of Representatives to tackle the bill. “I’m hoping it will be done during the break so we can ratify it when sessions resume,” Escudero said in a briefing.

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Chinese investors control 75% of Indonesia nickel refining capacity: report – by Frederic Tomesco (Northern Miner – February 5, 2025)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Chinese investors have managed to gain control over most nickel refining capacity in Indonesia, the world’s biggest producer of the mineral – a dominance that may give China a greater say over future prices while crowding out rivals, a new report suggests.

Chinese companies or shareholders ultimately control at least three-quarters of Indonesia’s nickel refining capacity, though the holdings are hidden behind “layers of shell companies” to mask foreign ownership, according to an analysis prepared by the Washington-based Center for Advanced Defence Studies.

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Indonesia’s nickel sector faces headwinds from Trump’s electric vehicle curbs – by Amy Sood (South China Morning Post – February 5, 2025)

https://www.scmp.com/

US President Donald Trump’s decision to revoke electric vehicle incentives has raised concerns over its impact on Indonesia’s vital nickel sector and China’s dominance widening in the Southeast country’s EV supply chain.

Trump targeted EVs immediately after he was sworn in on January 20, annulling a 2021 executive order by former president Joe Biden that called for half of all new vehicles sold in the United States to be electric by 2030.

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Indonesia, home to the world’s largest nickel reserves, struggles to achieve its EV dreams – by Michelle Anindya (Rest of World.org – February 3, 2025)

https://restofworld.org/

China’s growing involvement and the rapid shift to lithium batteries dissuade investors.

Karawang county, located about 90 minutes by road from Jakarta, has been a major automotive hub in Indonesia for decades, housing factories of companies like Yamaha and Toyota. Last July, the industrial area added another feather to its cap when Southeast Asia’s first electric vehicle battery factory was unveiled there.

Established as a joint venture between Hyundai Motor, LG Energy, and the state-owned Indonesia Battery Corporation, the factory has the annual capacity to make battery cells sufficient to power 150,000 EVs. The factory marked a key step in Indonesia’s ambition to become a hub of EV manufacturing in the region, and one of the world leaders in EV battery production by 2027.

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Experts and advocates warn of nickel mining’s risk to precious marine region of Indonesia – by Victoria Milko (Associated Press – January 31, 2025)

https://apnews.com/

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — One of Earth’s most biodiverse marine regions is threatened by the expansion of nickel mining projects in Indonesia, according to a new report.

Satellite analysis and on-the-ground visits found a rapid increase in land given over to mining pits in Raja Ampat Regency, a group of tropical islands near West Papua, according to the report from Auriga Nusantara, an environmental and conservation organization in Indonesia.

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Trump’s EV Policy Reversal Threatens Indonesia’s Nickel Industry and Green Energy Transition (Jakarta Globe – January 28, 2025)

https://jakartaglobe.id/

Jakarta. A recent executive order by US President Donald Trump rolling back electric vehicle (EV) mandates is likely to disrupt Indonesia’s burgeoning EV ecosystem, according to the Center of Economic and Law Studies (Celios). The policy could significantly impact demand for critical minerals, foreign investment, and global financing for green energy projects, while strengthening China’s grip on Indonesia’s nickel downstream industry.

Bhima Yudhistira, Executive Director of Celios, said reduced global demand for EV batteries could pressure prices for commodities such as nickel, copper, and bauxite—key components in EV manufacturing.

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Column: Only Indonesia can help nickel recover from price bust – by Andy Home (Reuters – January 22, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

Nickel ended 2024 trading at four-year lows, a spectacular reversal of fortune for a metal that soared so high in 2022 it almost broke the London Metal Exchange (LME). There is no mystery to this dramatic tale of boom and bust.

Indonesia has flooded the world with more metal than it can absorb, crushing the price and leaving a trail of casualties among the rest of the world’s producers. The market’s fortunes this year depend on whether Jakarta can tame the excesses of its nickel sector and align supply more closely with demand.

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Two bids made for Glencore stake in New Caledonia’s Koniambo Nickel (Reuters – January 8, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

Two potential buyers for Glencore’s stake in mothballed New Caledonian nickel producer Koniambo Nickel SAS (KNS) have submitted offers following site visits late last year, KNS said.

Part of a loss-making nickel industry in French-controlled New Caledonia, KNS halted its operations in March after commodity group Glencore decided to sell its 49% interest.

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WA’s nickel industry has collapsed but multi-billion-dollar projects still in development with eye on future – by Jarrod Lucas and Tara de Landgrafft (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – December 1, 2024)

https://www.abc.net.au/

Is Western Australia’s once-booming nickel industry dead or just a sleeping giant? Thousands of job losses this year marked the bleakest period in the local industry’s history, which dates back to the 1960s.

In those days, the discovery of nickel literally put the Goldfields town of Kambalda on the map, leading to the development of the country’s first nickel mine while the Vietnam War drove demand for this key ingredient of stainless steel.

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The Weekend Essay: [New Caledonia] The Island Where Environmentalism Implodes – by Ben Crair (The New Yorker – November 23, 2024)

https://www.newyorker.com/

New Caledonia is home to thousands of species found nowhere else—and to nickel that companies like Tesla

This story was produced with support from the Rainforest Journalism Fund in partnership with the Pulitzer Center.

In September, 2020, Elon Musk and a Tesla executive named Drew Baglino put on matching T-shirts and took the stage in a California parking lot. To mark what the company called Battery Day, Tesla had gathered an audience of shareholders, who were social distancing by sitting separately in gleaming electric cars.

Some of the company’s new batteries, Musk and Baglino announced, contained far more nickel than previous models; as a result, they could travel farther, and at far less cost, on a single charge. “Increasing nickel is a goal of ours and, really, everybody’s in the battery industry,” Baglino said.

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Indonesia Curbing Nickel Supply to Support Locals, Eramet Says – by Eddie Spence (Bloomberg News – November 21, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Indonesia is squeezing supplies of nickel ore to protect smaller local miners as the market for the battery metal endures a prolonged slump, according to Eramet SA.

The French miner, which operates the world’s largest nickel mine in Indonesia’s North Maluku province, was this year given a sales quota by the Asian nation that was 29% less than it expected, causing its share price to plunge in October.

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Prony Resources gears up for nickel production restart at Goro mine (Mining Technology – November 19, 2024)

https://www.mining-technology.com/

The Goro mine in southern New Caledonia produces 57,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of nickel and 5,000tpa of cobalt.

Nickel miner Prony Resources New Caledonia will recommence operations at its Goro mine and battery-grade nickel production plant, located in the south of New Caledonia, after a six-month suspension caused by local riots in the French territory, reported Bloomberg.

The return of the workforce marks a significant step for Prony Resources, one of the three major nickel producers in New Caledonia.

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Indonesia’s Small Islands Pay the Price for Nickel Mining – by Firdaus Cahyadi (China Global South Project – November 11, 2024)

https://chinaglobalsouth.com/

The push for electric vehicles (EVs) promises a cleaner future, but the production of their batteries comes at a steep cost to Indonesia’s small islands. Nickel, a critical component in many EV batteries, has spurred mining activities that devastate local ecosystems and communities.

Nickel batteries—particularly Nickel Cobalt Manganese (NCM)—dominate the EV market, accounting for 60% of market share, according to the Global EV Outlook 2023. While alternatives like Lithium Ferro Phosphate (LFP) are gaining traction, the demand for nickel remains robust. In July 2024, global EV sales increased by 21% compared to the previous year, with Chinese-made vehicles leading at 800,000 units sold.

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