PT Merdeka Battery Materials Tbk. (MBMA) confirmed that the company's two HPAL smelter expansion projects will operate this year.

Thus, MBMA will collect additional revenue and increase nickel production capacity in the form of mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) which will be effective in the 2025 financial year.

GM Corporate Communications PT Merdeka Copper Gold Tbk. (MDKA), Tom Malik said the two HPAL factories have a total production capacity of 55,000 tons of MHP per year.

"MBMA is confident that our long-term strategy and business growth and our commitment to providing value to shareholders," said Tom when contacted, Sunday (2/2/2025).

The first factory was worked on by MBMA together with GEM through PT ESG New Energy Material. MBMA holds 60% of the shares in this joint venture.

The HPAL project has a production capacity of 30,000 tons of nickel per year in the form of MHP. The first phase is planned to have a capacity of 20,000 tons of MHP.

In addition, MBMA also owns 12.5% of shares in PT Meiming New Energy Material which already has a commissioning HPAL smelter. Meanwhile, this factory has a production capacity of 25,000 tons in the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) area. This project is carried out by GEM.

On the other hand, Tom said, the company is targeting nickel production in the form of nickel pig iron (NPI) from 3 MBMA smelters to reach 80,000 tons to 85,000 tons in 2024. “MBMA also has a Nickel Matte facility that processes NPI produced by the RKEF smelter into High Grade Nickel Matte (HGNM) with a production target for 2024 of 50,000-55,000 tonnes of Nickel in the form of HGNM,” said Tom.

From MBMA's financial performance report, the issuer of Boy Thohir and Saratoga Group's joint venture posted a net profit of USD 18.46 million or around Rp284.06 billion (assuming an exchange rate of Rp15,384 per USD) throughout the period from January to September 2024.

The net profit figure rose 2,627% from the profit recorded in the same period the previous year at USD 677,097 or around Rp10.24 billion. The company's performance spike came from an increase in limonite production from PT Sulawesi Cahaya Mineral (SCM) nickel mine as well as NPI and high-grade nickel matte (HGNM) production.

During the first 9 months of 2024, the SCM mine produced 6.7 million wet metric tonnes (WMT) of limonite, 176% higher than the production in the first 9 months of 2023.

In the same period, SCM produced 1.9 million WMT of saprolite, or 113% higher than the same period in the previous year. In addition, the RKEF (Rotary Kiln-Electric Furnace) smelter produced 63,338 tonnes of nickel in NPI, while the nickel matte plant produced 38,422 tonnes of nickel in HGNM.

However, MBMA's share price recently fell to Rp382 per share at the close of trading on Friday (31/1/2025). The position has been corrected by 51.94% or minus 413 points from the IPO price at Rp795 on April 18, 2023.

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