Indonesia is 'Mining' its Own Success
According to GlobalData's mines and projects database, Indonesia has 127 mines. Unsurprisingly, the world’s significant markets keep a close relationship with the country. For the same reason, the global EV industry sees significant opportunities in the Indonesian mines, and the US is already making its move. Indonesia and the US recently engaged in talks around a potentially critical EV minerals deal, which could focus mainly on nickel.
However, this time, the talks were proposed by Indonesia after the US Inflation Reduction Act bill, which has earmarked about $400 million (€374 million) for increased US energy efficiency. Currently, the discussions are primarily focused on nickel. Indonesia is believed to have a long-term vision of forming a reliable supply chain for electric vehicle metals with lucrative global markets. The US has very few reserves of nickel, with only one nickel mine in Michigan - the Eagle Mine - which is also expected to wind down production in the next few years. On the contrary, Indonesia is the largest producer of nickel worldwide, accounting for about 1.6 million tonnes in 2022, followed by the Philippines and Russia. The country also has about 21 million tonnes of nickel reserves.
Over the past few years, the global nickel market has been facing its fair share of tough times. One of the major reasons was Indonesia’s ban on nickel exports in 2020 to encourage more manufacturers to process the metal domestically. Given that Russia is one of the major producers of nickel, the Russia-Ukraine conflict also led to an increase in demand and, in turn, more foreign investment in Indonesia.