Vale And Huayou Sign Nickel Agreement Cooperation With Ford

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - PT Vale Indonesia Tbk (PT Vale) and Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co. (Huayou) China announced an agreement with car manufacturer Ford Motor Co. (Ford).

The three companies will conduct capital participation in the High-Pressure Acid Leach (HPAL) Block Pomalaa project through a definitive agreement.

Later the HPAL Block Pomalaa project will process ore supplied by PT Vale Indonesia from the Pomalaa Block mine to produce nickel in the form of mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), a low-cost nickel product used in EV batteries with nickel-rich cathodes.

This HPAL factory will operate under the auspices of PT Kolaka Nickel Indonesia in the Pomalaa Block, Kolaka Regency, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia.

In submission to regulatory approval, this project can generate up to 120 kilotons of MHP per year.

The preparation for the initial location of the Pomalaa Block HPAL Project has begun, and the full construction is expected to begin this year, with commercial operations starting in 2026.

This collaboration will provide essential ingredients for the transition of the automotive industry to EVs, increase Indonesia's EV manufacturing industry, and support Ford's plan to produce a production rate of 2 million EVs by the end of 2026 and scale further in stages.

The three-way nickel processing project, together with a separate supply agreement under development with Ford and Huayou, for precursor cathode active materials that are important for the collective manufacture of lithium-ion batteries will be combined with other Ford nickel sources, contributing significantly to support its electric vehicle production targets by the end of 2026.

"This framework gives Ford direct control to get the required nickel, with one of the lowest-cost industrial approaches and allows us to ensure nickel has been mined in line with our company's sustainability targets, setting the right ESG standard as we measure," said Vice President of Ford Industrialization Model e EV Lisa Drake.

Lisa continued, this way puts Ford in a position to make it easier for EVs to be accessed by millions of people and in a way that still protects humans and planets better.

"This agreement shows that it's not just about what we're mining but how we do it," said PT Vale Indonesia CEO Febriany Eddy.

Febriany said it embeds corporate environmental, social and governance standards into everything it does and the result is a unique collaboration with global automaker Ford and leading global mineral processor Huayou to invest together in the project.

"This global collaboration is in line with Indonesia's vision to build an EVdomestic ecosystem and make PT Vale an important contributor in overcoming the challenges of world decarbonization, with investments that will produce local economic benefits and ensure optimal utilization of Indonesia's nickel resources," he explained.

Just so you know, this agreement is a continuation of the groundbreaking of PT Vale Indonesia's Pomalaa Block last November.

This block is a National Strategic Project with investments of up to IDR 67.5 trillion and is expected to employ around 12,000 construction jobs.