BASF and Eramet plan to spend as much as $2.6-billion building a nickel/cobalt refinery in Indonesia, expanding a wave of investment in the Southeast Asian nation aimed at feeding growing demand from electric vehicles (EVs). The project, known as Sonic Bay, will produce about 67 000 t of nickel and 7 500 t of cobalt a year, Indonesia’s Investment Ministry said in a statement. The two companies expect to finalise an agreement on the plant in the first half of this year, the statement cites BASF CEO Martin Brudermüller as saying.
