Figure 1  Chairman Xu Kaihua presides over the QMB Nickel Resource Project Feeding Stage Meeting

Like a painter with magic power, September of Autumn has painted a colorful QMB picture on a K-shaped island, which is famous for its laterite nickel ore that has attracted a lot of investment, in Sulawesi of Indonesia: a magnificent nickel industry museum, a central control system center with integrated wisdom, an international first-rate laterite nickel ore research and development center, a grand ore washing and dressing system, a hot high pressure acid leaching production line, a well-proportioned CCD countercurrent washing workshop, a busy but ordered finished product workshop… The Phase I of the GEM QMB Project has been successfully completed and it has reached the world’s first-rate level. When the Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching, Prof. Xu Kaihua, Board Chairman of GEM spared no trouble to personally go to the Indonesian project, inspected the frontline of the project, comforted all the construction workers of the QMB Project and presided over the QMB Nickel Resource Project Feeding Stage Meeting.  

A team led by Chairman Xu Kaihua arrived in QMB Industrial Park at about 12 o’clock on September 8, 2022, and all the employees of QMB were looking forward to their arrival at that moment. When Chairman Xu Kaihua got off a car, all the employees could not help shouting, they warmly applauded and lined the road to give Chairman Xu Kaihua a warm welcome. Chairman Xu Kaihua extended his long-unseen greetings to the employees by saying some most plain and most sincere words to them: “Hello, all of you have worked very hard and done a good job. You are all our heroes!” Chairman Xu’s greeting not only showed the warm concern of GEM for all the constructors working at the project site, but also brought all the QMB project workers an inexhaustible source of strength.

Accompanied by Chairman of the Board of Supervisors Lu Xijin, Vice President of GEM and President of QMB Jiao Hua, Vice President of GEM Jiang Miao and other leaders of GEM, Chairman Xu Kaihua inspected the QMB Project work immediately after his arrival without taking a rest to recover from travel fatigue. He successively inspected the finished product compression molding workshop, the nickel industry museum, the central control system center, the 118 Planar Nickel Ore Storage Yard, the ore washing and dressing workshop, the high pressure acid leaching system, the CCD countercurrent washing workshop, etc.

A team consisting of Director of GEM Ms. Wang Min, Director and Executive Vice President of GEM Zhou Bo and Supervisor of GEM Wu Guangyuan led by Chairman Xu Kaihua traveled over a long distance, changed planes several times, overcame a lot of difficulties and finally arrived in the big K-shaped island, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia on December 19, 2017. They inspected the project site and planted the seeds of nickel resources. At the beginning of 2018, Chairman Xu Kaihua successively came to the big K-shaped island of Indonesia three times with some engineers and technicians, they crossed rivers and hills, conducted a field investigation and laid a solid foundation for accurate design. Chairman Xu Kaihua came to the big K-shaped island of Indonesia again on September 8, 2022, he measured every corner of QMB with his firm and forceful steps. This scene reminded us that he came to the island three years ago, he walked in the nearly primitive forest with firm and steady steps and his footprints marked a broad road of the QMB Project to the world.  

Figure 2  We will start from the very beginning and move forward though we face various difficulties

Figure 3  Chairman Xu Kaihua inspects the nickel cobalt hydroxide (MHP) products

Figure 4  Chairman Xu Kaihua inspects the QMB Nickel Resource Project work

Then Chairman Xu Kaihua held a feeding stage meeting at the project site and the main managers of QMB participated in the meeting. They summarized and reviewed the achievements that have been made since the construction of the QMB Nickel Resource Project. First, the QMB Project has been completely independently designed, independently constructed and independently commissioned. This project has the completely independent intellectual property right. It is a world-class nickel resource project on Sulawesi Island, interpreting the global leading “science and technology + green + wisdom” development idea. Second, the workers of the QMB Project have adopted a modular compact design and the production capacity has reached the planned production capacity on the Phase I project land of 1,060 mu (about 70 hectares). The total production capacity of Phase I and Phase II will exceed 73,000 tons and the scale advantage will form. The obvious input-output benefit of the nickel resource hydrometallurgical process project that has formed under the guidance of the modular and compact design ideas is a reliable guarantee for the Phase II input-output of the QMB Project. Generally speaking, the design work has reached the advanced level of the world. Third, made-in-China equipment and devices have been boldly adopted in the QMB Project and the equipment level has been aimed to reach that of the international first-rate enterprises of the same kind, which has highlighted the reliability of made-in-China products and won honors for made-in-China products. Fourth, the construction level and speed of the QMB Project have been higher than the expected level and speed, the roads and networks of the plant have been extended in all directions, the pipe networks have been well organized, the technological process has not been suspended, reversed or interrupted, the installation quality of the project has reached the international standard. With the spirit of the Foolish Old Man who removed a mountain and the struggling spirit of sailing against the wind and working hard for the pandemic prevention and control, all the strugglers of the QMB Project have completed the production line and produced qualified products within less than two years. Fifth, the feeding and commissioning have been very successful! The employees completed all the commissioning work of all the production lines spending only over one month. The main equipment works well and it has produced qualified MHPs, which has further proved that our design level, equipment level and process technology level are fine.

Chairman Xu Kaihua has highly affirmed the production line commissioning work of the QMB Nickel Resource Project being carried out. He stated that the QMB team led by President of QMB Jiao Hua had completed the 100-cube high pressure laboratory reactor process and all the technological processes of the production lines within only a month and produced qualified nickel-cobalt hydroxide products since August of this year. This has proved that the design and construction of QMB have been very successful, which has made all the employees of QMB feel very confident in the 560-cube high pressure reactor feeding and production that will begin soon.

Chairman Xu Kaihua has arranged the key work of the next stage. First, the 100-cube to 560-cube high pressure reactor should be rapidly switched from production to feeding and the first product series should be put into production on or near September 15. Second, a little remaining work of the Phase I project should be continued and completed. Third, the whole industrial park should be quickly cleaned and put in good order. The earthwork backfilling, the road and ground hardening and the park greening should be rapidly completed, a standardized production system should be formed and the green requirements for the plant should be met to greet the Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs of Indonesia Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan with excellent working conditions. The minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan would come to the industrial park to inspect the project work.

Then, considering the Phase I design and construction experience of QMB, Chairman Xu Kaihua told the employees of QMB to do the following two things for the QMB Phase II Project: First, the employees should bring their imagination into full play, think innovatively, well plan the current site of the QMB Industrial Park and maximize the production capacity. Second, in the current site conditions, the employees should create a new record in the production capacity history, i.e., make the production capacity exceed 73,000 tons of nickel metal per year, and turn the QMB Industrial Park into one of the laterite nickel ore high pressure acid leaching smelting parks with the highest sole production capacity in the world by taking full advantage of the precious experiences that formed in the design and construction of the Phase I project.  

Finally, Chairman Xu Kaihua extended his sincere thanks to the QMB Project team on behalf of all the shareholders and wished all the QMB Project workers happy Mid-Autumn Festival. He encouraged all the heroes to continue to make progress in the feeding and commissioning, adopt a scientific attitude and rapidly complete the 560-cube high pressure reactor production line.

Figure 5  Group photo of Chairman Xu Kaihua and the main site managers