Major Indonesia nickel plant restarts after deadly landslide
me-metals: A nickel plant at a major metal-processing hub in Indonesia has restarted after a deadly landslide in March forced a suspension of virtually all production.
According to me-metals cited from mining.com, PT QMB New Energy Materials Co. Ltd. — which counts China’s GEM Co., Tsingshan Holding Group Co. and Guangdong Brunp Recycling Technology Co. Ltd. among its shareholders — is now operating at 70% to 80% of its capacity, according to people familiar with the situation. They asked not to be named as they are not authorized to speak publicly.
Bloomberg reported last month that QMB had stopped almost all output following the landslide in an affiliated tailings area, which killed two workers and left one missing. The halt raised concerns about near-term supply tightness but also increased scrutiny over high-pressure acid leaching, or HPAL, a production method which allows the extraction of nickel from low-grade ore but generates high volumes of waste.
A spokesman for IMIP, which runs the industrial park in which the plant is located, said the search for the third worker had officially been called off, though the company had not stopped its own efforts to find him. The representative declined to comment on production.
Indonesia accounts for more than half the world’s output of nickel, but the sector has been plagued by a string of accidents since it began its breakneck expansion a decade ago. The battery metal has been in persistent surplus in recent years, but supply of mixed hydroxide precipitate, a form of nickel produced at the plant which also contains cobalt, has been tight.
GEM, the leading investor in QMB, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
source: mining.com
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