Column: Electric dreams turn into a nightmare for battery metals
A sector that was once racing to build new supply has been closing mines and deferring projects as low prices bite into the cost curve.
French miner Eramet SA is looking to acquire more nickel mining permits in Indonesia, the Jakarta Post reported, citing a senior company official.
The firm wants to mine the battery metal on the island of Sulawesi, Bruno Faour, director of Eramet’s Indonesia unit, said in an interview. The prospective sites would need to be near areas with hydropower potential that could feed the operations, he added.
Eramet runs one of the world’s biggest nickel mines on Halmahera island in the country’s North Maluku province, in partnership with Chinese conglomerate Tsingshan Holdings Group.
It recently pulled out of a joint investment in a processing plant with Germany’s BASF SE, and is instead eyeing a stake in a facility owned by China’s Zheijiang Huayou Cobalt Co.
(By Eddie Spence)
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