ASIATODAY.ID, JAKARTA – Indonesia holds the largest nickel reserves in the world or the equivalent of 23% of world reserves. In total, Indonesia has nickel resources reaching 17.7 billion tons of ore and 177.8 million tons of metal, with total reserves of 5.2 billion tons of ore and 57 million tons of metal.
Apart from that, there are several areas that contain nickel, but have not yet been explored (greenfield) spread across the provinces of Southeast Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Maluku, North Maluku, Papua and West Papua.
Special Staff of the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) of the Republic of Indonesia, for the Acceleration of Mineral and Coal Governance, Irwandy Arif, stated that for class 2 nickel production, such as nickel pig iron (NPI) and ferronickel, the lifespan is estimated to be around 6 to 11 years, but for class 1 nickel batteries, their lifespan is still between 25 and 112 years.
“If we look at the current reserves of 5.2 billion tons, that’s almost the same amount between saprolite and limonite, then the resources are around 17 billion tons. Well, these are the resources that we have to convert into reserves and detailed exploration efforts are needed,” said Irwandi. in Jakarta, quoted on Sunday (28/10/2023).
To increase the amount of reserves, it is necessary to explore greenfield areas that are estimated to contain nickel.
According to Irwandy, this opportunity is still very open for those who want to carry out nickel mining activities in Indonesia.
“So actually the age (of nickel) and the amount of reserves and resources will increase if we intensify this level of exploration. Well, of course a lot of investment is required. “This is what needs to be done to increase existing reserves,” continued Irwandy.
In order to extend the life of nickel, it is necessary to reduce the rate of nickel ore consumption. Including thinking about how NPI and ferronickel products can be industrialized into stainless steel.
“This is what we need to encourage for those who are already trying to have Rotary Kiln Electric Furnace (RKEF) technology for the production of NPI and ferronickel. To provide this encouragement at RKEF, efforts will be made to continue production of NPI and ferronickel towards stainless steel to reduce consumption of nickel ore upstream. “This is very important for the balance of our nickel supply chain,” added Irwandy.
Based on the 2020 Nickel Mining Booklet, a map of the distribution of nickel resource locations and reserves outside the nickel IUP/KK areas on Sulawesi Island in 2020, shows that 77% of Southeast Sulawesi’s potential mineralization-bearing areas do not yet have WIUPs with potential reserves of 2.6 billion tons. Maluku, 43% of the potential mineralization bearing areas do not yet have a WIUP and reserves are 1.4 billion tons, while for Papua the investment potential data is even more interesting, the potential reserves are 0.06 billion tons with 98% of the potential mineralization carrying areas not having a WIUP.
Looking at the vast and promising greenfield nickel areas with large potential reserves and opportunities for downstream nickel industry that are still needed, Indonesia is an attractive choice for developing investment in the nickel mining sector. (AT Network)
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