PT Trimegah Bangun Persada Tbk will continue its expansion. NCKL is building a second High Pressure Acid Leach (HPAL) refinery facility through its subsidiary, PT Obi Nickel Cobalt (ONC).
According to the plan, the facility is targeted to have 3 production lines with a production capacity of 65,000 tons of mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) nickel per year and is expected to start operating in the first half of 2024.
On another expansion agenda, NCKL is also planning further expansion for the Rotary Kiln Electric Furnace (RKEF) production line through an associated entity, namely PT Karunia Permai Sentosa (KPS). The plan is for the facility to have 12 production lines with a production capacity of 185,000 tonnes of nickel content per year (ferronickel) and is expected to operate in stages starting in the second half of 2025.
"The company is also in the planning stage of a stainless steel project where some of the ferronickel produced by the Company and its subsidiaries in the RKEF sector will be further processed to produce stainless steel products," said NCKL Corporate Secretary , Franssoka in a written statement, Wednesday ( 2/8).
NCKL is indeed keen on factory expansion. In May 2023, for example, NCKL through an associated entity, namely PT Halmahera Persada Lygend (HPL), had just inaugurated the operation of a nickel sulfate factory at the end of May 2023. The factory with a design installed production capacity of 240 thousand tons of nickel sulfate per year is in the Harita Nickel operational area on Obi Island, South Halmahera Regency, North Maluku Province.
According to Kontan.co.id records, HPL's cobalt sulfate production capacity is planned to reach 30,000 tons per year.
It is not yet known how much investment is required for the HPAL ONC and RKEF KPS expansion projects. Taking a peek at the company's interim financial reports, NCKL has End of Period Cash and Bank of IDR 6.01 trillion as of June 30, 2023. This amount increased by 371.34% compared to the Cash and Bank position at the Beginning of the Period which amounted to Rp 1.27 trillion.
Meanwhile, NCKL's total assets were Rp. 42.32 trillion as of June 30, 2023. This amount consisted of Rp. 24.58 trillion in equity and Rp. 17.73 trillion in liabilities. So, according to Kontan.co.id's rough calculation, the position of the NCKL debt-to-equity ratio (DER) is in the position of 0.72x as of June 30, 2023.
Image source: DOK/NCKL
