Foreign media reported that LG Chem previously said that the company plans to invest in a lithium battery plant in Indonesia as a precautionary measure to deal with Indonesia's ban on nickel ore export since January 2020.
On Monday, Indonesian Maritime Coordination Minister Pan Jietan pointed out in a written statement that LG Chemical's investment plan will support the development of electric vehicles in Indonesia due to the nickel content of electric vehicle batteries being less than 1.4%. At present, nickel ore with a nickel content of less than 1.4% in Indonesia is still exported abroad.
According to public information, Indonesia has abundant nickel resources. In 2000, it has proven nickel ore reserves of 1 billion tons, of which nickel content is 13 million tons, ranking fifth in the world. In the mid-1970s, Indonesia signed a work contract with the Canadian mining company to start mining two large nickel mines in Sulawesi, which has since become an important producer of nickel. In 2004, the output of nickel ore was about 4 million tons, and the export was about 3.25 million tons.
