pt Indonesia Valley Tbk will build the Polamaa Block Nickel Industrial Area, Polamaa District, Kolaka Regency, Southeast Sulawesi. After operation, the factory is expected to be able to produce 120,000 tons of nickel annually.
The Polamaa Block project is the result of a collaboration between PT Vale and a Chinese company, the Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Company, or more commonly known as Huayou. This block with an area of more than 20 thousand hectares will be divided into three parts, namely the mining area, the nickel smelter or processing plant and the port or port.
The ceremonial Polamaa Block Gound Breaking event was held in an area that would later become a mining area. In his remarks, Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investments Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said that the High Pressure Acid Leach Factory (HPAL) would be the largest production in the world.
“The world’s largest HPAL is in Indonesia. And people cannot make batteries without this HPAL. So this HPAL forms a very important ecosystem for us,” said Luhut, at Polamaa Block, Kolaka, South Sulawesi on Sunday (27 / 11/2022).
Luhut also appreciated the cooperation between Vale and Huayou. Long-standing relationship with the chairman of Huayou Zhejiang Cobalt, Chen. From that old story, he fully supports the cooperation that the two sides are doing.
“Why did I accept this project? Because I know President Chen. I went with him to Germany, negotiated with BMW, with VW. And he was chased because he had good technology. So as soon as I know that he married Vale Indonesia, I say this is the right choice,” he explained.
Not only that, the company’s performance can also be seen from the achievements of Vale’s HPAL Nickel Processing Plant in Morowali, Central Sulawesi. He sees that both production and technology have developed rapidly. For this reason, he believes that this project will increase the production of HPAL, to the development of electric vehicles (EV) in Indonesia.
“This project must go forward, because this project builds an ecosystem. Don’t build a project. We want to build an ecosystem for a lithium battery. The ones that later can work in electric cars, can work anywhere,” Luhut said.
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