PT Vale Indonesia Tbk and China’s Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co. announced an agreement with global automaker Ford Motor Co., creating a three-party collaboration to advance more sustainable nickel production in Indonesia and help make electric vehicle batteries more affordable.
All three companies are making equity investments in the Pomalaa Block High-Pressure Acid Leaching (HPAL) Project through a definitive agreement celebrated at a ceremony featuring Indonesia President Joko Widodo.
The Pomalaa Block HPAL Project will process ore provided by PT Vale Indonesia from its Pomalaa Block mine to produce MHP. This HPAL plant will operate under PT Kolaka Nickel Indonesia in the Pomalaa Block nickel industrial area in Kolaka, Southwest Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Subject to regulatory approval, the project could produce up to 120 kilotons per year of contained nickel in the form of mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), a lower-cost nickel product used in EV batteries with nickel-rich cathodes.
Pomalaa Block HPAL Project early site preparations have already started, and full construction is expected to start this year, with commercial operations beginning in 2026. The collaboration will deliver materials essential for the auto industry’s shift to EVs, enhance Indonesia’s EV manufacturing industry and support Ford’s plan to deliver a 2 million EV production run rate by the end of 2026 and further scale over time.
The three-way nickel processing project – together with a separate supply agreement under development with Ford and Huayou for a precursor cathode active material critical to manufacturing lithium-ion batteries – collectively will combine with Ford’s other sourced nickel, significantly contributing to support its EV production targets by the end of 2026.
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