PT Bahodopi Nickel refining Indonesia (BNSI) has announced plans to transfer a controlling stake in the company. The company is a joint venture between PT Vale Indonesia Tbk (INCO) and Tisco and Xin Hai. BNSI is 51 per cent owned by INCO and 49 per cent by Tisco and Xinhai.
BNSI's March 10 announcement communicated the company's intention to raise authorized capital, including Series A and Series B shares.
Taixin (Singapore) Pte Ltd will subscribe to the new shares. Taixin (Singapore) Pte Ltd will fully acquire a portion of the new shares, BNSI management said in an official statement. This will lead to a transfer of control of the company.
Taixin will also absorb new Series B shares from BNSI. "Upon completion of the acquisition, Taixin (Singapore) Pte Ltd will own 51 per cent of all the issued and fully vested voting shares," BNSI management said.
It is estimated that an investment of Rs 37.5 lakh crore is needed to build the BNSI smelter in Morowali, Central Sulawesi. INCO broke ground on the nickel mine and smelter area in early February. The smelter uses rotary kiln electric furnace (RKEF) technology.
The integrated nickel mining and processing project is scheduled to be completed in the next two and a half years. The Bahodopi Nickel smelter project is a national strategic project, powered by a steam and gas power plant (PLTGU) using RKEF technology. The project will reduce carbon emissions across project operations, with a target of a 33 percent reduction by 2030.
Vale Indonesia has also secured a new investor from Singapore for a smelter project in the Kolaka Pomalaa block southeast of Sulawesi. On February 27, Vale Indonesia signed an amendment and restatement deed to the Definitive Cooperation Agreement (DCA) with Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co. LTD.
Filia Alanda, Vale Indonesia's corporate secretary, said that apart from the DCA agreement with Hua Yu, INCO also signed joint venture agreements and share acquisition agreements with Hua Chi (Singapore) Pte LTD and PT Kolaka Nickel Indonesia (KNI). "The cooperation agreement, which was implemented on Feb 27, is related to Sino Legend (Singapore) Pte LTD's planned investment in the Kolaka nickel mine in Indonesia," Filia said.
Since November 2022, Vale Indonesia and Hua You have begun construction of a nickel smelter using high pressure acid leaching (HPAL) technology in Pomalaa block. The project will have an annual production capacity of 120,000 tons of mixed hydroxide precipitates (MHP) and an investment value of $1.8 billion.
The project uses low grade ore or limonite, with an average of 1.3% coming from the Pomalaa block, which has a contract of work (CoW) area of 20,286 hectares. The investment value of the integrated nickel mining and processing project is $4.5 billion. The Pomalaa smelter will produce MHP, a raw material for electric car batteries.
