Jakarta. French miner Eramet is currently looking for lithium potential in Central Java as the foreign investor seeks to supercharge Jakarta’s dream of building an ecosystem for electric vehicles (EVs).

The search for lithium -- a key ingredient in EV battery production -- centers in the mud volcano Bledug Kuwu of Central Java. Eramet also partners with Indonesia’s government-run Geological Agency.

“We have taken a sample to find lithium content in the volcanic area,” Eramet Indonesia’s chief executive officer Jérôme Baudelet told reporters in Jakarta on Monday, as quoted by the state news agency Antara.

Eramet is currently studying the sample at its research center in France. If the lithium content is low, it is impossible for Eramet to begin industrialization in the area, according to Baudelet. Under the partnership, Eramet will provide the technology necessary to find lithium. Once lithium is discovered, they will move on to the exploitation phase in which the output will go into Indonesia’s development EV battery industry. In other words, the lithium won’t leave the country for exports.

Geological Agency’s head Mohammad Wafid said that Indonesia currently already possessed other minerals that were also key to EV battery production, namely nickel and cobalt. The Southeast Asian country even holds the world’s largest nickel reserves. 

Eramet’s main presence in Indonesia is at the Weda Bay Nickel joint venture. The company runs an open-pit nickel mining operation in North Maluku’s Halmahera in a joint venture that it shares with Chinese stainless steelmaker Tsingshan and state-owned miner Antam. The site accounts for around 17 percent of the world’s nickel production. Eramet has also partnered with Jakarta's sovereign funds Danantara and the Indonesia Investment Authority (INA) in a deal related to the nickel-based battery materials.

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