South Korean battery material company EcoPro has been ramping up its investments to secure nickel, a key mineral for secondary batteries.
The company recently announced that it has invested about $11 million (around 14.8 billion won) to acquire a 9% stake in Green Eco Nickel, a refinery operated by China’s Green Eco Manufacture (GEM) in Indonesia. Located on Sulawesi Island, Green Eco Nickel produces about 20,000 tons of nickel annually. Indonesia is known to have the largest nickel reserves and production in the world.
With this contract, EcoPro has secured additional nickel corresponding to its investment stake. The company plans to gradually increase its stake in Green Eco Nickel in response to the United States Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
EcoPro Materials aims to produce about 200,000 tons of precursor by 2027. EcoPro internally projects that it will need to secure about 100,000 tons of nickel to achieve this goal.
EcoPro has previously expanded its nickel supply chain through its equity investment in the first and second phases of QMB, a nickel smelter operated by GEM in the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP). QMB produces a total of 50,000 tons of nickel a year.
The nickel supplied from Indonesia is converted into nickel sulfate, a raw material for secondary battery precursors, by EcoPro Materials and then manufactured into precursors to supply to cathode material producing affiliates such as EcoPro BM and EcoPro EM.
EcoPro resolved to amend its articles of incorporation at the general shareholders’ meeting in March last year, adding “exploration, extraction, and development of domestic and overseas resources” as a business purpose. The company has been continuing its efforts to diversify its supply chain through investing in nickel smelters to secure stable supplies and enhance price competitiveness in the fierce competition for secondary battery materials.
“We will continue to invest in nickel refineries, a key mineral for secondary batteries, to build a stable supply chain,” said Chang In-won, head of EcoPro’s global resources development office. “In response to the IRA, we plan to invest in another nickel refinery in Indonesia in the future.”
