Holiday Ayo - PT Vale Indonesia Tbk is building the Polamaa Block nickel industrial area, in Polamaa District, Kolaka Regency, Southeast Sulawesi. After operating, it is predicted that the factory will be able to produce 120,000 tons of nickel per year.

The Polamaa Block project is the result of a collaboration between PT Vale and a company from China, the Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Company, or more commonly known as Huayou. This block with an area of more than 20 thousand hectares will be divided into three parts, namely the mining area, the smelter or nickel processing plant, and the port or harbour.

As cited from cnnindonesia.com, the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Panjaitan inaugurated the construction of the nickel smelter in the Pomalaa Block on Sunday (27/11). He said the High Pressure Acid Leaching (HPAL) factory would have the largest production in the world.

"The largest HPAL in the world is in Indonesia and people can't make batteries without this HPAL. So this HPAL makes a very important ecosystem for us," said Luhut in the Polamaa Block.

Luhut also appreciates and fully supports the collaboration between Vale and Huayou. He also told me that he knew the boss of Huayou Chen Xuehua.

"I went with him (Chen) to Germany, negotiated with BMW, with VW and he was being chased because he had good technology. So when I heard he was married to Vale Indonesia, I said this was the right choice," explained Luhut.

Not only that, Luhut also said that the company's performance can also be seen from the results of Vale's HPAL nickel processing factory in Morowali, Central Sulawesi. Currently, production and technology are seen to have developed rapidly.

Therefore, Luhut believes this project will boost HPAL production to the development of electric vehicles (EV) in Indonesia.

"This project must go ahead, because this project is building an ecosystem, not building a project. We want to build an ecosystem for one lithium battery which can later run into electric cars, can run anywhere," said Luhut.