The Minister Of Energy And Mineral Resources Said This Treasure Can Make Indonesia Potentially Become A Major Player In The World's Batteries

Nickel illustration (Photo: doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Arifin Tasrif said that Indonesia has the potential to become a major player in world batteries. Arifin said demand for Lithium Ion Batteries is expected to increase due to the increasing need for electric vehicles and energy storage.

"Indonesia has great potential as a major world player in the Electric Vehicle Battery industry because Indonesia has battery component materials, namely nickel, bauxite, copper, manganese," said Arifin, quoted on Wednesday, October 11.

Based on data from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Indonesia has nickel resources with resources of 17.3 billion tons and reserves of 5 billion tons. Meanwhile, bauxite commodities have resources of 6.21 billion tons and reserves of 3.1 billion tons.

Bauxite production in 2022 will be 31.8 million tons. Then the copper commodity with resources of 15.8 billion tons and reserves of 3.0 billion.

Despite this potential, Arifin also revealed that the battery industry value chain in Indonesia still needs to be developed because there are still several industries that are not yet available, such as smelting or refining minerals, cell component production, battery cell production, battery assembly, and other minerals needed, among others are lithium, graphite and cobalt.

"Development of mineral recycling technology is also an important factor in mineral management," added Arifi.

This includes recovering and reusing minerals from end-of-life products such as batteries, electronics and magnets.

"Recycling will have a big impact in conserving resources," concluded Arifin.