Ecopro said on the 18th that it has completed a 700 billion won investment in four nickel smelters in Indonesia and will push ahead with a second-phase investment.
Ecopro plans to fully launch the IGIP (International Green Industrial Park) project, its second-phase investment in Indonesia, starting at the end of this year. The company plans to establish joint ventures (JV) with global corporations to build an integrated industrial park in Sambalagi Regency on Sulawesi Island, where raw material smelting, precursor, cathode, and battery cell production are all carried out in one place.
Ecopro will first invest about 50 billion won in a joint-venture nickel smelter within the industrial park to secure about 20% equity. When completed, the smelter is expected to mass-produce about 66,000 tons (t) annually of mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), a nickel intermediate. The company plans to diversify its portfolio by entering the smelting business and lower cathode material prices by about 20%–30% compared with existing levels.
Ecopro is also planning an additional smelter investment of the same scale thereafter. Beginning with the additional investment, Ecopro, effectively as the largest shareholder, will lead the business and the creation of the industrial park, and will sequentially establish precursor, cathode, and battery cell factories.
Since 2022, Ecopro has invested equity in four smelters within the IMIP (Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park) on Sulawesi Island, Indonesia: QMB (9%), Meiming (9%), ESG (10%), and Green Eco Nickel (38%). The investment amounts to about 700 billion won.
Through equity investments in the smelters, Ecopro realized 55.5 billion won in investment gains in the first half of this year. It also secured a stable supply of up to 28,500 t of MHP annually. That is enough for about 600,000 electric vehicles. MHP, known as a nickel intermediate, is cheaper than nickel metal and contains cobalt needed for producing ternary precursors.
Ecopro said, "Including equity-method gains from smelter investments and profits from MHP sales, we expect to earn an average of 180 billion won per year from this year through 2030," adding, "With an integrated project that connects smelting to cathode materials, we will build world-class competitiveness."