Vale Indonesia Targets Pomalaa And Morowali Smelters To Be Completed In 2026
PT Vale Indonesia Tbk (INCO) targets two smelter projects with high-pressure acid coaching (HPAL) technology in Pomalaa, Southeast Sulawesi and Morowali in Central Sulawesi (Sulteng) to be completed in 2026.
President Director of Vale Indonesia, Febriany Eddy said that currently INCO has three ongoing projects with a total investment of US$9 billion or Rp130 trillion.
"Currently we have a large investment program at PT Vale. We have 3 large investment programs. The three are low-carbon and HPAL energy-based downstreaming," Febriany told the media crew in Jakarta, quoted on Wednesday, March 19.
He explained, for the HPAL smelter project in Pomalaa, INCO cooperates with Ford Motor Company and Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co and has completed all permits in 2024. In the near future, Vale will bring in an autoclave or steam engine and will upgrade to the port to bring in the equipment that is being done in China.
"That's a huge total investment, because it's a capacity of 120,000 tons of HPAL," he continued.
Then the second project located in Morowali with a capacity of 60,000 tons HPAL, he continued, will have a net zero emission concept from the first day. Vale has also built a research and development (R&D) facility or research and development. The R&D institution aims to transfer knowledge related to technology from Chinese companies to Indonesian workers.
"From the capex, we announce in Central Sulawesi, including US$40 million to build R&D facility. Currently, many Indonesian students have received scholarships and are being sent to school," explained Febri.
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With the rapid development of these two projects, Febri is confident that it will be completed sooner than the initial plan launched in 2027.
"It will be completed in 2026, even though we canceled 2027, yesterday's partner talked to me, we will try to make it 2026 sooner. So we hope that if all of 2026 runs smoothly, 2 factories in Southeast Sulawesi and Central Sulawesi can be completed. We will try," said Febriany.