South Korean electric vehicle (EV) battery materials producer EcoPro Group has agreed to build a battery cathode plant in Indonesia with China’s Green Eco-Manufacture (GEM) Company Ltd to tap into the country’s abundant nickel resources.

The two companies have strengthened their strategic partnership this year with EcoPro investing US$11m for a 9% stake in a nickel smelting factory majority owned by GEM located on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. As part of the deal, EcoPro secured an annual supply of 6,000 tons of nickel based mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), a raw precursor material.

The two companies have agreed to jointly build an integrated cathode materials production plant, likely to be located near their nickel smelting factory in North Morowali Regency of Central Sulawesi. Nickel accounts for around 40% of the cost of manufacturing typical battery cathodes.

EcoPro said it had agreed to strengthen its collaboration with GEM, through its battery materials unit EcoPro GM Company, on the overall cathode materials ecosystem from raw mineral mining, smelting, precursors and cathodes. Through their partnership, the two companies aim to overcome the current slowdown in the global battery electric vehicle (BEV) demand which has depressed prices for battery materials.

EcoPro chairman and founder, Lee Dong-che, said in a statement: “We have agreed to pursue a project in Indonesia for an integrated system which covers smelting, precursors and cathode materials, based on the strong trust established with GEM over the past decade.”