(Repeats story with no change in text)
* Tsingshan to add 100,000 T nickel in nickel pig iron next
year
* Antam to add extra 13,500 tonnes nickel in ferronickel in
2019
* Battery nickel projects underway, pending permits
By Mai Nguyen and Wilda Asmarini
JAKARTA, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Large mining companies on
Wednesday welcomed a recent decision by the Indonesian
government to move forward a ban on exporting nickel ore, as the
firms aim to increase smelting output.
Top nickel ore supplier Indonesia last month said the
country will stop ore export from Jan. 1, 2020, pushing forward
a ban by two years and raising concerns of supply shortage as
well as causing financing issues for smaller players.
But major industry players gathering at the Asian Nickel
conference on Wednesday said the ban would further support the
development of the nickel processing industry in the country.
"For Vale, we see Indonesia as a great opportunity to expand
our production," Steven Brown, a general manager at PT Vale
Indonesia INCO.JK , told the conference in Jakarta.
Indonesia said it expedited the ban to reserve ore for its
fast-expanding smelting industries of nickel pig iron (NPI),
stainless steel and electric vehicles (EV) battery nickel.
The country first placed the nickel ore export ban in 2014,
causing a price surge at the time, then relaxed it in 2017 under
a quota system. Nickel prices CMNI3 have surged as much as 76%
this year.
"If we step back and look at whether this has been a
successful industrial policy for Indonesia, I think the answer
to that is a resounding yes," said Mark Selby, principal of
Selby & Co.
"Tens of billions of dollars for investments coming into
Indonesia, probably more in mining investment than any other
developing country in the world, as a result the ore ban. Mining
resources are not infinite," Selby told the conference.
SMELTING CAPACITY
Smelters in Indonesia in the past few years have ramped up
production of NPI and ferronickel, or products made from nickel
ore that are used in making stainless steel.
From nearly zero in 2014, Indonesia's NPI output climbed to
261,000 tonnes a year in 2018 and could climb to as much as
530,000 tonnes in 2020, according to analysts' estimate.
"The good thing is, domestically, more and more smelters
apart from those owned by Antam are coming up and running," said
Dimas Wikan Pramuditho, chief finance officer of Indonesian
state miner Aneka Tambang (Antam) ANTM.JK .
Antam aimed to expand its ferronickel output to 40,500
tonnes of nickel metal by next year, from 27,000 tonnes
currently and planned to add at least another 93,500 tonnes of
nickel in NPI and ferronickel by 2024, Antam's commerce director
Aprilandi Hidayat Setia told the conference.
Tsingshan, the biggest NPI producer in Indonesia, could add
another 100,000 tonnes of nickel in NPI next year, from around
220,000 tonnes currently, a source with direct knowledge said,
while PT Vale Indonesia plans to add a new ferronickel smelter
and expand its existing nickel matte plant.
Nickel firms are also planning several battery nickel
projects in Indonesia on the positive outlook for the EV battery
sector, despite facing challenges of disposing waste financially
and cleanly as well as obtaining a permit to run the projects.
Tsingshan and its partners have two battery nickel projects
with combined capacity of 110,000 tonnes in nickel content and
aimed to start production from end 2020, pending permits from
the authority and financing, the direct source said.
PT Vale Indonesia and Sumitomo Metal Mining Co Ltd 5713.T
are conducting a feasibility study of a 40,000-tonne battery
nickel project, while Indonesia's Harita Group and China's
Ningbo Lygend is planning another battery nickel plant.