Back in March 2023, Ford announced that it had signed a deal with PT Vale Indonesia Tbk and Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co. to invest in the Pomalaa Block High-Pressure Acid Leaching (HPAL) Project, which will process ore provided by PT Vale Indonesia from its Pomalaa Block mine to produce mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) in Indonesia. The goal of that project is to increase nickel production in Indonesia, boosting supply and driving down costs for future EVs. Now, Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co. it trying to secure a rather large amount of funding to make that happen.
According to Bloomberg, that company is seeking $2.7 billion in funding for its future plant, and has thus far gotten HSBC Holdings Plc and Standard Chartered Plc on board – though both are inviting other banks to chip in as well. The battery-nickel facility is set to be located in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia, a country that currently accounts for over half of the total nickel output in the world. When the plant comes online, it’s expected to tout an annual nickel output of 120,000 tons, which would make it one of the largest such facilities in the country.
The total cost of the project is expected to be around $3.8 billion, and will result in Huayou having a 73.2 percent stake, followed by Vale at 18.3 percent, and Ford at 8.5 percent – though The Blue Oval does hold an option to raise that to 17 percent within a certain timeframe if it chooses to do so. As Ford Authority previously reported, Volkswagen is also planning on investing in this and similar joint-ventures, too, though it’s unclear if that’s still the case. Additionally, Ford just pulled out of another raw material joint effort in Canada that is in the process of erecting a cathode plant.
Regardless, this cobalt project has also conjured up concerns from U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, who previously asked for an investigation into the matter based on the fact that Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co. is a China-based company. “Huayou is a PRC (People’s Republic of China)-based corporation that participates in the PRC’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to advance its geopolitical strategy, peddle Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence, and gain control of critical minerals and natural resources around the world in support of the PRC’s strategic interests,” Rubio said.
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