Indonesian Nickel Book

Producion
Until 2013, Indonesia’s nickel industry only had two operators, state-owned PT Antam and PT Vale, with
production in the form of ferronickel and matte, respectively. In the decade of 1996 to 2006, Indonesian
mine produced a steady range of between five to 10 Mt of nickel ore annually, of which more than half
were processed by the two domestic smelters. Nickel mining in Indonesia has been booming since 2007
through direct shipping ore operation, which resulted in drastic acceleration of exports from 6.91 million
tons in 2007 to 65 million tons in 2013 of which 90 percent went to China for processing into stainless
steel on a massive scale. In the same period, the price of nickel ore declined rapidly from US$208.45 per
ton in 2007 to only $26.01 per ton in 2013, while nickel metal price gradually increased from $17,229
per ton to $22,890 per ton, respectively.
In 2014, as part of implementing the 2009 Mining Law, the government prohibited the export of nickel
ore, one of several measures restricting the export of key steelmaking raw materials. The government,
however , relaxed the nickel export ban in 2017, through a quota system, which allowed some export
licenses form firms that were committed to building local smelters, intending for the full ban to be
reinstated in January 2022. However , following an announcement in August 2019, Indonesia reinstated
the total ban on January 1, 2020, two years earlier than the original schedule.
Nickel world mine production by country,

2013-2020 (in million ton)
3
2
Million tons
0
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Australia Canada Indonesia New Caledonia Philipines
Russia Others
Source: U.S. Geological Survey
In 2020, Indonesia was the leading producer of mined nickel accounting for about 30 percent of global
output. The largest mined nickel producing regions (wmt basis) in Indonesia are Central Sulawesi,
Southeast Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, North Maluku and West Papua. In Central Sulawesi, Teknik alum
services has capacity to produce 4.2 Mtpa; Bintang Delapan Mineral (3.6 Mtpa), Hengjaya Mineralindo
(1.8 Mtpa), Central Omega (1.2 Mtpa), Sulawesi Cahaya Mineral (1.0 Mtpa). In Southeast Sulawesi, Ceria
Nugraha Indotama (3.6 Mtpa) Ifishdeco (2.0 Mtpa), Karyatama Konawe Utara (1.2 Mtpa), Antam
Pomalaa (3.0 Mtpa); Konutra Sejati (1.5 Mtpa). In South Sulawesi: Vale (15 Mtpa). In North Maluku:
Antam Haltim (7 Mtpa), Wanatiara Persada (3.6 Mtpa), Weda Bay (1.8 Mtpa), PT Rimba Kurnia Alam (1.0
Mtpa), and in West Papua: Gag Nikel (3.0 Mtpa).
Despite its significant mine production capacity, the progress of building processing plants was slower
than expected due to some obstacles, namely electricity supply, financing as well as the seriousness of
investors and most recently the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, some newly built blast
furnace smelters were idle due to high coke prices.
As building smelters requires significant up-front cash investment, most of the developers investing in
smelter projects in Indonesia are subsidiaries of Chinese companies which are setting up fully integrated
nickel pig iron or ferronickel and stainless steel production operations close to the source of nickel ores.
Central Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, and North Maluku Provinces have become the
major nickel industrial clusters in the country
In Central Sulawesi, Tsingshan Group and Bintang Delapan Group developed the Indonesia Morowali
Industrial Park (IMIP) which now hosts about 44 production lines to produce 3.5 Mtpa of NPI and 3.0
Mtpa of 300 series stainless steels. IMIP is currently developing an electric vehicle (EV) battery cluster.
Also in Central Sulawesi, Gunbuster Nickel Industry, a Delong Nickel Co. Ltd. Company, is currently
completing 24 production lines of smelter facility with total output of 1.8 Mtpa of NPI.
Southeast Sulawesi is the home for Delong Nickel Co. Ltd.’s Virtue Dragon and Obsidian Stainless Steel
with a combined of 35 production lines and 5 argon oxygen decarburization (AOD). This facility is able to
produce around 1.5 Mtpa of FeNi and 3.5 Mtpa of 300 series stainless steel. Ceria Nugraha Indotama is
currently constructing 6 production lines with total capacity of 250 ktpa and an HPAL facility in kolaka
with capacity of 103 ktpa of MHP.
In South Sulawesi, Huadi Nickel-Alloy and several companies are developing new nickel smelters in the
Bantaeng Industrial Park, which now has an output capacity of 0.35 Mt.
On Obi Island of North Maluku, Megah Surya Pertiwi, a JV between Harita Group and Xinxing Cast Pipe
Co., Ltd. Operates 4 RKEF lines with capacity 0.24 Mtpa of FeNi. Harita together with Lygend Group has
recently commenced the operation of an HPAL project, operated by Halmahera Persada Lygend, with a
total output of 54.000 tons of MHP, an intermediate feed for nickel sulphate production. Chinese
Jinchuan Group, through its unit Wanatiara Persada, operates 4 production lines with a total capacity of
200 ktpa of FeNi. Also in North Maluku, French Eramet in partnership with Tsingshan Group, Weda Bay
Nickel has 4 production lines with total output of 200 ktpa, while Huake Nickel Indonesia, a joint venture
project between Huayou Cobalt and Tsingshan Group is completing 4 production lines with capacity of
58 ktpa of nickel matte
Article 147(2) of GR 96/2021 changes this divestment timeline to the following:
No. Applicability Year of Producttion Minimum Indonesian Shares

10th 5%
11th 10%
IUP-OP holders implementing open-pit method and
12th 15%
1 not integrated with processing, refining and/or coal
13th 20%
development and utilization facilities
14th 30%
15th 51%
15th 5%
16th 10%
IUP-OP holders implementing open-pit method and
17th 15%
2 integrated with processing, refining and/or coal
18th 20%
19th 30%
20th 51%
15th 5%
16th 10%
IUP-OP holders implementing underground method
17th 15%
3 and not integrated with processing, refining and/or
18th 20%
coal development and utilization facilities
19th 30%
20th 51%
20th 5%
21th 10%
IUP-OP holders implementing underground method
22th 15%
4 and integrated with processing, refining and/or coal
23th 20%
24th 30%
25th 51%

Indonesian Nickel Book

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Producion

Nickel world mine production by country,

Source: U.S. Geological Survey

No. Applicability Year of Producttion Minimum Indonesian Shares

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