INCO Prepares Three Nickel Smelter Projects Worth IDR 138.3 Trillion
Mon 01 Dec 2025, 08:00 AM
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PT Vale Indonesia Tbk (PT Vale) or INCO has outlined three key projects that will be the company’s focus next year.
President Director of PT Vale Indonesia, Bernardus Irmanto, said the first project involves building supporting infrastructure for the Indonesia Growth Project (IGP) Pomalaa in Kolaka Regency, Southeast Sulawesi.
The second is the Bahodopi nickel refining project located in Morowali, Central Sulawesi, developed together with China’s battery materials manufacturer GEM Co., Ltd.
And the third is the Sorowako nickel refining project in East Luwu, South Sulawesi, established in partnership with Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt.
“One is in Pomalaa, the second in Bahodopi, and the third in Sorowako. These three projects have strategic value from various angles,” Bernardus said when met recently.
He confirmed that smelters using High Pressure Acid Leach (HPAL) technology will be built at all three sites, with a total investment of USD 9 billion, equivalent to IDR 138.3 trillion (at IDR 15,730 per USD).
“We expect the products from the HPAL plants we’re building to be absorbed by the market and become materials for electric-vehicle batteries,” he added.
Even so, he acknowledged this year’s nickel oversupply, so Vale will first conduct several studies to mitigate development risks.
“PT Vale must conduct certain assessments to reduce development risk. We need to understand the market well and use that knowledge to drive the company’s activities,” he explained.
He also said the company has begun selling saprolite nickel ore from the Bahodopi and Pomalaa blocks in the third quarter of 2025.
“And we’ve started to see the benefits—there will be an additional revenue stream for PT Vale in 2025. Besides nickel matte from Sorowako, there will also be ore sales from Bahodopi and Pomalaa. This is, in my view, an extraordinary upside,” he said.
Once the 2026 Work Plan and Budget (RKAB) is approved and agreed upon, Vale will also begin mining and selling ore from Pomalaa.
“This is while we wait for the HPAL plants currently under construction to be completed. In Pomalaa and Bahodopi we mine both saprolite and limonite,” he said.
“The limonite will be supplied to the HPAL plants we’re building with our partners, while the saprolite will be sold to the market. So that becomes an additional revenue stream for the company,” he added.
He is targeting the three smelters to be completed gradually by the third quarter of next year.
“Hopefully, for example, we can complete the Pomalaa HPAL in Q3 2026, followed by Bahodopi, and lastly the Sorowako HPAL,” he concluded.
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