Indonesia will continue to ramp up its production of refined nickel in anticipation of demand for material to be used in electric vehicle (EV) batteries, senior Macquarie consultant Jim Lennon told delegates at the 7th International Nickel Conference in Amsterdam on Thursday June 6.
Macquarie has forecast that global nickel supply must grow by 1.7 million tonnes per year between 2018 and 2030. This would be an increase of 87.5% from the growth of 910,000 tpy between 2006 and 2018.The investment bank believed that battery demand will be the main driver of this growth, accounting for 890,000 tpy of the necessary 1.7 million tpy growth."Indonesia is the only place in the world where nickel investment for EV [usage] can take place," Lennon said.The Southeast Asian country was developing a high pressure acid leaching (HPAL) project pipeline to satisfy the forecast battery...