POSCO Holdings to Build Korea's First Nickel Refinery Plant in Indonesia

From 2025, Annual Supply of 52,000 Tons
Capable of Supplying 1 Million Electric Vehicles

POSCO Holdings will become the first domestic company to directly produce nickel, a key raw material for secondary battery materials, at overseas raw material sources.

On the 3rd, POSCO Holdings announced that it will establish a nickel smelting plant in Indonesia, the world's number one nickel holding and producing country. This plant will melt nickel-containing ore to produce nickel intermediates used for secondary battery materials.

Nickel is a key raw material that determines the performance and capacity of electric vehicle batteries. As the electric vehicle market rapidly grows, the demand for nickel is also increasing quickly.

POSCO Holdings is establishing a nickel refining plant with an annual production capacity of 52,000 tons in Indonesia, the world's number one nickel holder and producer. The photo shows Vale's nickel mine site in Sorowako, South Sulawesi Island, Indonesia, taken last March.
[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

POSCO Holdings plans to build the nickel smelting plant in the Weda Bay Industrial Park on Halmahera Island, Indonesia. It will produce about 52,000 tons per year (based on nickel content) of nickel intermediates (nickel matte). This amount is enough to manufacture one million electric vehicles. POSCO Holdings aims to invest a total of $441 million (approximately 590 billion KRW), start construction within this year, and begin commercial production from 2025.

Indonesia is promoting industrial advancement across the entire nickel production value chain at the national level by offering benefits such as tax incentives and industrial park infrastructure support to attract foreign investment. POSCO Holdings plans to continue joint investments in nickel mining and smelting businesses in Indonesia. The strategy is to secure a stable global nickel supply chain and further strengthen the group's self-sufficiency in raw materials for secondary battery materials.

The POSCO Group is constructing a secondary battery high-purity nickel plant in Gwangyang with an annual capacity of 20,000 tons, producing high-purity nickel domestically by receiving nickel ore from its raw material subsidiary NMC (Nickel Mining Company) in New Caledonia.

In 2021, POSCO acquired a 30% stake in Ravensthorpe, an Australian nickel mining and smelting company, securing an Australian nickel supply chain. Including POSCO HY Clean Metal's battery recycling in Gwangyang, Jeollanam-do, and Zhejiang Huapu's precursor production in China, the plan is to secure 220,000 tons of nickel by 2030.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.