Jakarta. Indonesia’s sovereign wealth fund Danantara announced on Wednesday that it has signed a Head of Agreement with Shenzhen-based GEM Limited to jointly develop a High-Pressure Acid Leach (HPAL) smelting facility with an annual capacity of 66,000 tons of nickel. The project carries an estimated value of $1.42 billion.

GEM is a global leader in green metallurgy and circular economy solutions, known for its large-scale recycling of electric vehicle batteries and electronic waste.

Danantara CEO Rosan Roeslani said the partnership marks a significant milestone in the fund’s mission to deliver strategic investments that accelerate Indonesia’s socio-economic transformation. “By working with a global pioneer in green metallurgy, we can advance the government’s priority agenda of sustainable downstream mineral industrialization,” he said.

The project is expected to involve collaboration with Vale Indonesia and additional global partners.

GEM processes more than 10 percent of used EV batteries and e-waste in China each year and employs over 11,000 staff across China, South Africa, South Korea, and Indonesia. In Indonesia, the company has invested heavily in nickel-based new energy materials, high-tech nickel industrial parks, joint research labs with local universities, and scholarship programs producing master’s and doctoral graduates in metallurgy.

It has also invested $30 million in a joint metallurgical research laboratory with the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), aiming to strengthen Indonesia’s role as a hub for green metallurgy research and development.

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