Chinese Miner Joins Vale in Building Second Nickel Refining Plant in Indonesia

Chinese miner Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co. Ltd. (603799.SH) has clinched a deal with the Indonesian nickel unit of Brazilian mining giant Vale S.A. to build a second plant in the country that uses a controversial process to refine the metal for eventual use in electric-vehicle (EV) batteries.

Huayou and PT Vale Indonesia Tbk plan to build the facility in Sorowako, Indonesia, where they will use the high-pressure acid leach (HPAL) process to convert low-grade limonite laterite ores from the Sorowako mine into mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), an intermediary product that is roughly half nickel.