Nickel Industries’ Hengjaya nickel project, located within the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park, has commenced its transition from nickel pig iron production to nickel matte.

Hengjaya Nickel“As a result of the innovation by our operating partner and major shareholder Tsingshan, nickel matte produced from laterite ore is now able to be sold into the ‘Class 1’ nickel electric vehicle battery supply chain,” said the Australian miner, who noted that it has contracted all its high grade nickel matte sales through March 2023 to a third party.

While Hengjaya’s capital modifications to produce nickel matte were completed earlier this year, Nickel Industries said it chose to defer switching until its Angel nickel project within the Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park reached nameplate production.

Hengjaya will produce a low grade nickel matte, which will be upgraded to high (i.e. nickel sulfide with 60% to 75% nickel content) by converters that have been specifically built within the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park.

In 2021, Hengjaya produced 149,045 tonnes of nickel pig iron, containing 20,020 tonnes of nickel metal equivalent.

Source: https://www.asiaminer.com/news/latest-news/11165-hengjaya-shifts-to-nickel-matte.html#.Yz01w6IzaMp