China apos;s CNGR To Make Nickel Matte In Indonesia As Battery Demand Grows

By Tom Daly

April 8 (Reuters) - Chinese battery material maker CNGR Advanced Material Co said on Thursday it would set up a joint venture in Indonesia to produce nickel matte, used to make chemicals for electric car batteries, kynghidongduong.vn with a Singapore-based partner.

CNGR last month agreed to buy nickel matte - an intermediate product that can be processed into battery-grade nickel - from Tsingshan Holding Group.
The surprise deal sent nickel prices plunging as the market sensed concerns of tight nickel supply could be overdone.

Now, Changsha-based CNGR is looking to produce matte itself in a $243 million smelting project in Tsingshan's industrial park on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

The project with Singapore-based Rigqueza International will produce 30,000 tonnes of nickel matte a year, CNGR said.

"Demand for ternary material nickel is accelerating," CNGR said in a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, noting a trend toward high-content nickel batteries with a longer lifespan.

CNGR will hold a 70% stake in the joint venture, tour phượng hoàng cổ trấn to be called PT ZhongTsing New Energy, tour phượng hoàng cổ trấn according to the filing, with Rigqueza holding the remaining 30%.

Rigqueza is registered in Singapore but it was not immediately clear if the company is related to Tsingshan.

The first $81 million phase is set to produce 10,000 tonnes of matte on a nickel content basis, said the filing, which did not provide a targeted start-up date.

The venture is the latest in a number of Chinese-backed projects in top nickel miner Indonesia, which banned nickel ore exports from the start of 2020 as it sought to establish a fully integrated battery industry at home.

Chinese battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) plans to invest $5 billion in a lithium battery plant in the Southeast Asian country, Indonesian government officials have said.

(Reporting by Tom Daly; Editing by Susan Fenton)