Harita Nickel Earns IDR 17.3 Trillion From Nickel Sales

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - PT Trimegah Bangun Persada Tbk (NCKL) or Harita Nickel posted an increase in sales of nickel commodities to the third quarter of 2023.

Harita posted sales of IDR 17.3 trillion, an increase of 135 percent compared to the same period the previous year which was recorded at IDR 7.4 trillion.

Another increase was also recorded in terms of the company's net profit which increased by 24 percent to Rp4.5 trillion from the same period the previous year which was recorded at Rp3.6 trillion.

This significant increase in sales cannot be separated from the Company's efforts to expand production capacity in a sustainable manner, both from mining business lines, the production of Refinery High Pressure Acid Leach (HPAL) and the production line of the Rotary Kiln Electric Furnace (RKEF) smelter in the last 2 years.

"An additional line of production of Mixed Hydroxide Precipitate (MHP) with a capacity of 18,000 tons of nickel/year content that has been completed by one of the Company's subsidiaries, namely PT Halmahera Persada Lygend (PT HPL) and has succeeded in producing commercial production since early 2023 and has succeeded in achieving full production capacity in just 2 months," the management wrote in its official statement, Friday, December 1.

Thus, the total installed capacity of the three production lines owned by PT HPL currently has an installed capacity of 55,000 tons of nickel content per year.

In addition, another subsidiary, PT Harita Jayaraya Feronikel (PT HJF), which has eight production lines, has also been operating in stages since early 2023 and since August 2023, all PT HJF production lines have been running at full capacity.

PT HJF has a production capacity of up to 95,000 tons of nickel per year.

Meanwhile, from the mining business, the company recorded a significant increase in nickel ore production to meet additional demand due to an increase in production capacity from both PT HPL and PT HJF.

In the third quarter of 2023, a subsidiary of NCKL in the mining business has produced around 10 million limousine nickel ore and 4.4 million saprolite nickel ore.

From the HPAL refinery production line, since the addition of one production route, the Company recorded an increase in MHP production by 49 percent compared to the previous year's period of 46,891 tons of nickel content.

Some of the MHP products produced, then converted to Nickel Sulfat and Kobalt Sulfat, which are the main raw materials for the manufacture of ternary precursors, which are needed in the manufacture of nickel-based electric vehicle batteries.

During the first nine months of 2023, the Company through its subsidiary has produced 9,287 tons of Nickel Sulfat and 818 tons of Kobalt Sulfat.

From the production line of the RKEF smelter, the Company through its 2 subsidiaries, namely PT HJF and PT MSP, managed to record a total of Feronikel's production in the first nine months of 2023 of 68,994 tons of nickel content, an increase of 268 percent from the previous year.

Harita believes that the global development of the electric vehicle industry and the government's plan to become one of the largest electric car battery manufacturers in the world.

"The company, with the spirit of 'from Obi to Indonesia', has a commitment to continue to invest and build production facilities that can increase the volume and added value of the products produced by the Company," continued the management.

Currently, the Company is expanding further by building a second HPAL facility through its subsidiary, PT Obi Nickel Cobalt (ONC), which is targeted to have 3 (three) production lines with a production capacity of 65,000 tons of nickel per year MHP and is expected to operate in stages starting in the second quarter of 2024.

The company is also planning further expansion for the RKEF production line through an association entity, namely PT Karunia Permai Sentosa (KPS) which is targeted to have 12 production lines with a production capacity of 185,000 tons of nickel per year (feronicle) and is expected to operate in stages starting in the second half of 2025.