Fig. 1 Opening Ceremony of the Production Line of the Laterite Nickel Ore Hydrometallurgy-based New Energy Raw Materials Manufacturing Project Phase I (30 KTA of Metallic Nickels) of QMB, Indonesia

In the golden autumn of September, the national flags of China and Indonesia were flying in the wind in the QMB park, Indonesia. The opening ceremony of the production line of the Laterite Nickel Ore Hydrometallurgy-based New Energy Raw Materials Manufacturing Project Phase I (30 KTA of Metallic Nickels) invested by PT QMB New Energy Materials was held in IMIP, Sulawesi Island, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia at 16:00 on September 26, 2022 (Monday). It marks the success of the Project in tackling challenges, including overcoming the impacts of COVID-19 and breaking through the blockade of relevant key components, over the last three years, the successful completion of it and a new stage for it to be formally put into operation, and a victory in the battle for the defence of the global nickel resources! In the future, a capacity ramp-up plan will be implemented in the Project with an aim to ramp up the capacity to the design capacity within 3 months.

At the ceremony, the world-class "Nickel Industry Museum" and Indonesia's first world-class "Hydrometallurgy and New Energy Materials Engineering Technology Research Center" were also inaugurated.

Mr. Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, the Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs, and relevant leaders of the Indonesian Coordinating Ministry for Maritime and Investment Affairs, the Ministry of Investment, and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources attended the ceremony in person, demonstrating the Indonesian government's high attention to and strong support for the QMB Project. Minister Luhut highly recognized the project design concept of "Science & Technology + Intelligence + Green" and the demonstration significance of the green factory construction. He said that the completion and operation of the Project had actively responded to and fulfilled the initiative on conducting in-depth and high-quality cooperation through the synergy of the Belt and Road Initiative and Global Maritime Fulcrum and the statement on materializing benchmark projects to implement the Global Development Initiative (GDI) at the bilateral and regional levels proposed by President Xi Jinping and President Joko Widodo at the bilateral meeting held in Beijing on July 26, 2022. Minister Luhut said that he very much appreciated the innovative spirit of the major shareholder of QMB, namely GEM, in independent design and the tremendous contribution GEM made by building the world-class "Hydrometallurgy and New Energy Materials Engineering Technology Research Center" and "Nickel Industry Museum" in Indonesia and cultivating a large batch of Masters of Science in Metallurgical Engineering and that such efforts marked a new chapter in the history of science and technology cooperation between China and Indonesia and would have a far-reaching impact on the localization development of the Indonesian metallurgical engineering!

Minister Luhut and Professor Xu Kaihua jointly planted a "Carbon Neutrality Tree" to express their vision for a green future. Minister Luhut also met with the graduates of the first metallurgical engineering master class jointly trained by "Indonesia, GEM, and Central South University" and encouraged them to make a good career in their own country.

Fig. 2 Mr. Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, the Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs, was delivering a speech.

Fig. 3 Minister Luhut and Professor Xu Kaihua were jointly planting a "Carbon Neutrality Tree".

Fig. 4 A group photo of Minister Luhut, Professor Xu Kaihua, and the graduates of the first metallurgical engineering master class jointly trained by "Indonesia, GEM, and Central South University"

More than 300 people attended the ceremony, including representatives of QMB's Indonesian employees, overseas builders of Chinese enterprises, QMB's Chinese employees, and of business competitors.

In his speech, Professor Xu Kaihua expressed thanks to the Indonesian government for the investment environment, the IMIP park for the high-quality services, and to all shareholders of QMB and builders of business competitors. Mr. Xu also thanked Chairman Xiang Guangda, the founder of Tsingshan Holding Group, for his business expansion and the establishment of a perfect investment platform for Chinese enterprises. Professor Xu Kaihua believed that it is the most correct choice to invest in Indonesia and put not only capital but also high-tech and green into Indonesia. According to Mr. Xu, the hydrometallurgical production of 23 KTA of metallic nickels will be added based on the completion of the original plan of producing 50 KTA of metallic nickels with an investment of USD 998 million; besides, research will be conducted actively on expanding the scale of manufacturing new energy raw materials from laterite nickel ores; precursor materials will be deployed actively; the hydrometallurgy and new energy materials engineering technology research center will develop into a world-class one to cultivate batches of masters and doctors of engineering, promote the cultural integration, and create a world-class whole industry chain and engineering technology innovation system of new energy materials based on nickel resources, thus making the Project a benchmark one to implement the GDI in Indonesia and China.

Fig. 5 Professor Xu Kaihua, the Chairman of GEM & QMB, was delivering a speech.

Conforming to the development trend of new energy electrification in Indonesia, the Project is a joint venture built by Chinese enterprises GEM (63%), Tsingshan Holding Group (10%), and Brunp Recycling (CATL Holdings, 10%) together with the Japanese enterprise HANWA CO., LTD. (8%) and the South Korean enterprise ECOPRO (9%), with a total investment of USD 998 million. Its design scale is to produce nickel-cobalt-manganese hydroxide and high-purity nickel-cobalt-manganese sulfate crystal as raw materials for ternary power batteries, with the production of 50 KTA of metallic nickels.

The QMB Nickel Resource Project Phase II (43 KTA of metallic nickels: consisting of the 20 KTA of the originally planned hydrometallurgical production of 50 KTA and the added 23 KTA) has entered the design and key equipment procurement stage and is expected to complete the capital construction and enter the commissioning stage in October 2023 and officially open by December 30, 2023.

Fig. 6 Control and command center of the QMB Project

Fig. 7 High-pressure module of the QMB Project

Fig. 8 CCD module of the QMB Project

Fig. 9 Raw material products for ternary power battery

Fig. 10.1 Minister Luhut and Professor Xu Kaihua inaugurated the Nickel Industry Museum of the QMB Project.

Fig. 10.2 The Nickel Wall of the Nickel Industry Museum, which is inlaid with the English letters of nickel (Ni) in 28 fonts to mean the element number 28 on the periodic table.

Fig. 10.3 The First Exhibition Area in the Museum: The Leapfrog Development from Nickel Coins to New Energy Resources over a Hundred Years

Fig. 10.4 The Second Exhibition Area in the Museum: The Global Reserves and Distribution of Nickel Resources

Fig. 10.5 The Third Exhibition Area in the Museum: The Centennial Revolution of Nickel — "Nickel" Opens a New Era

Fig. 10.6 The Fifth Exhibition Area in the Museum: The Centennial Technological Leapfrogging of Nickel — From Traditional Metallurgy to New Energy Material

Fig. 11 Minister Luhut and Professor Xu Kaihua inaugurated the QMB (Indonesia) Laterite Nickel Ore Hydrometallurgy and New Energy Materials Engineering Technology Research Center.

The QMB Nickel Resource Project is a bold attempt by Chinese enterprises to export hydrometallurgical engineering technology abroad.

Based on the advanced design concept of "Science & Technology + Green + Intelligence", the Project is designed and commissioned independently by GEM. In light of the industrial ideal of "Putting laterite nickel ore into furnaces and refining them into ternary materials", the laterite nickel ores are directly used to manufacture new energy raw materials and materials, thus creating a whole industry chain mode from laterite nickel ores to new energy materials. The Project has the following outstanding features in terms of planning and future development: Firstly, low-grade ores are used to ensure the complete recovery of resources and seek low-carbon and green development. In the Project, the low-grade (0.8% ~1.3%) laterite nickel ores not used in pyrometallurgy (RKEF and high grade nickel matte technology routes) are used, and the nickel, cobalt, and manganese resources are fully recovered to realize the maximum utilization of resources. The carbon dioxide emissions per ton of nickel metal decrease by over 60% compared to the pyrometallurgical technology. Secondly, the output scale is large and the industry chain is complete. With the modular, compact, and multidimensional design, the Project aims to produce 73,000 tons of nickel metal, 7,000 tons of cobalt metal, and 10,000 tons of manganese metal on a land area of 70 hectares (1056 mu) and high-purity nickel sulfate crystals, cobalt sulfate crystals, and manganese sulfate crystals as the new energy raw materials and will have an active plan for the ternary precursor materials. Thirdly, the introduction of science & technology into Indonesia enables the improvement of the metallurgical engineering technology of this country. With an investment of RMB 200 million, the world-class Laterite Nickel Ore Hydrometallurgy and New Energy Materials Engineering Technology Research Center is built to improve the Indonesian laterite nickel ore hydrometallurgy research and development to an advanced level in the world and to cultivate Masters of Science in Metallurgical Engineering for Indonesia. At present, there are 22 graduates and 50 under training. Fourthly, above 95% of the equipment in the Project is "Made in China" and highly acclaimed. Fifthly, emphasizing cultural integration, green, and environmental protection, GEM has been on the corresponding ESG list. The world-class Nickel Industry Museum shows the centenary history of nickel resources to the world and demonstrates the surging power of Indonesian nickel resources-driven new energy resources; The advanced sewage, waste residue, and waste gas treatment systems have made the emissions far lower than the Indonesian standards and reached the EU standards. The systems adopt whole-process real-time monitoring, cloud management, and cloud disclosure. The Indonesian multi-ethnic culture is spread through the first-class, elegant, and sacred prayer room. The Project will offer jobs to more than 3,000 Indonesians after it reaches the design production capacity.

QMB, together with the Indonesian people, will take the world's high-speed new energy development rail to a bright green future!

Project History Playback

Striving Forward Against All Odds to Win the Battle of Chinese Enterprises for the Defence of Nickel Resources!

On December 19, 2017, Chairman Xu Kaihua led the Group director Ms. Wang Min, the Group director and Executive Deputy General Manager Zhou Bo, and the Group Supervisor Wu Guangyuan to visit Sulawesi Island in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia after untold hardships, which planted the seeds of nickel resources; At the beginning of 2018, Chairman Xu Kaihua led engineers and technicians to Sulawesi Island three times to conduct field investigations, which laid a solid foundation for accurate design.

At the beginning of 2018, Mr. Xiang Guangda (Chairman of Tsingshan Holding Group), Professor Xu Kaihua (Chairman of GEM), and Mr. Li Changdong (Chairman of Brunp Recycling) visited Sulawesi Island multiple times and confirmed the implementation of the Project.

On September 28, 2018, a Joint Venture Agreement on the Construction of a Project for the Production of Battery-grade Nickel Chemicals (Nickel Sulfate Crystals) from Laterite Nickel Ore in Indonesia (50 KTA of Nickels) was signed by Tsingshan Holding Group, GEM, Brunp Recycling (CATL Holdings), Indonesian IMIP and Japanese Hanwa in Qingshan Park, Ningde City, China.

On January 11, 2019, the foundation stone of the Project was laid in the presence of Mr. Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, the Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs, to start the construction.