Indonesian President starts a $2.7 billion Ferro Nickel Plant

Indonesian President Joko Widodo inaugurated a new 1.8 million-ton nickel-iron plant in southeastern Sulawesi province on Monday at an estimated cost of $2.7 billion.

The plant was built by PT Gunbuster Nickel Indonesia, a local subsidiary of China's Jiangsu Delong Nickel, at the nickel processing center in Sulawesi as part of a government plan to move the resource-rich country up the value chain rather than just exporting raw materials.

According to a government statement, the plant will be able to process 13 million tons of nickel ore a year.

As we all know, President Jokoway said that the smelter will increase the value of nickel ore 14 times.

The establishment of value-added industries is one of Joko's main policy objectives to maximize returns on Indonesia's natural resources and create jobs.

Indonesia, the largest nickel miner, banned exports of nickel ore in 2020 to persuade foreign companies to invest in smelters.

The president reiterated on Monday that he would use the same methods to attract investors to process other metals, including a ban on bauxite shipments by the end of next year.

So for those who want to build a downstream bauxite industry, please do this because the export opportunity is only one year. "