|
Indonesia is keen to develop a full supply chain for nickel at
home, especially for extracting battery chemicals, making
batteries and eventually building EVs.
It has stopped exports of unprocessed nickel ore to support
investment in its domestic industries.
Ayodhia Kalake, a senior official at the Coordinating Ministry
for Maritime and Investment, said Tesla had reached out to the
government informally about a possible venture, but he did not
specify what it had in mind.
"It was still an early discussion and was not detailed yet,"
Ayodhia said in a statement on Monday.
"We need further discussion with Tesla," he said, adding that
Indonesia has a number of incentives for investment in EVs.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a Reuters email seeking
confirmation.
Indonesia last month said it had secured a deal to build a
lithium battery plant in the country with South Korean LG Chem
Ltd <051910.KS> and China's Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd
(CATL) <300750.SZ>.
Tesla is looking to ramp up production of trucks and solar
projects and its boss Elon Musk earlier this year urged miners
to produce more nickel and offered "giant", long-term contracts
if mined "efficiently and in an environmentally sensitive way".
While EVs are expected to help reduce global carbon emission,
activists are concerned that production of EV parts and
increased mining may damage the environment.
An Indonesian nickel smelting project being built by China's
Tsingshan Group and partners to produce battery-grade chemicals
withdrew a request to dispose of waste in the ocean, a
government official said on Friday.
(Reporting by Bernadette Christina Munthe; Writing by Fransiska
Nangoy; Editing by Martin Petty)
[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
