Company to send products to China soon Project start-up likely to pressure nickel price (Adds quotes, detail)
BEIJING/HANOI, May 19 (Reuters) - China’s Lygend Mining said on Wednesday its nickel and cobalt smelting project in Indonesia had made its first batch of mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), becoming the first high-pressure acid leach (HPAL) project in the country to reach production.
The $1.05-billion project on Obi island in the province of North Maluku is among several cobalt-nickel HPAL plants in nickel miner Indonesia that are under the spotlight as a source of supply for the burgeoning electric-vehicle battery sector.
“Our first batch of nickel and cobalt hydroxide products will be shipped to China soon, and gradually enter the global market,” said Lygend’s president Jiang Xinfang.