GEM Group Promotes Nickel Downstreaming, Strengthens Indonesia's Position in Global Battery Supply Chain
Indonesia is known as one of the world’s largest nickel reserve holders, yet its utilisation has been dominated by stainless steel products and raw material exports. As demand for electric vehicles rises, the industry is shifting towards value-added processing, particularly battery materials.
Nickel downstreaming in Indonesia continues to develop alongside growing global demand for electric vehicle battery materials. GEM Group (GEM Co., Ltd.) through its subsidiary PT QMB New Energy Materials has become one of the key players developing nickel processing based on domestic technology.
Between 2015 and 2017, several companies in Morowali tested hydrometallurgy technology with investments of hundreds of millions of US dollars, but did not achieve economic results. Globally, similar projects also faced high costs and profitability challenges.
In this situation, GEM claims to be able to reduce investment per 10,000 tonnes of nickel to below US$200 million, while lowering production costs to under US$10,000 per tonne. GEM has developed technology that is claimed to achieve full recovery of valuable metals such as nickel, cobalt, and manganese.
One of the main technologies used is High Pressure Acid Leach (HPAL), which allows simultaneous metal extraction in a single process. GEM Group Chairman and Founder Prof. Xu Kai Hua stated that this technology enables the utilisation of previously unused ore as a strategic raw material source.
“Previously, low-grade laterite ore in Indonesia was largely unutilised. Now we can process it, while recovering nickel and cobalt with a recovery rate of more than 90 percent,” he said.
The development of this technology is accompanied by the construction of integrated facilities from ore processing to the production of nickel sulphate and battery precursors, which are important components in the global electric vehicle supply chain. This step strengthens Indonesia’s position in the nickel downstream industry and marks a shift from being a raw material supplier to a strategic part of the global new energy supply chain.
From an industrial performance perspective, in the 2024-2025 period, the area recorded exports worth around US$2.5 billion, tax contributions of US$400 million, and the creation of more than 10,000 jobs. These figures show that downstreaming not only impacts the industrial structure but also provides direct economic contributions.
On the other hand, the development of an innovation ecosystem is also part of the industrial strategy. GEM has built a joint research facility at Institut Teknologi Bandung with an investment of around US$30 million.
The laboratory is equipped with more than 300 devices and covers various research stages, from metallurgy processes to battery material evaluation. The presence of this facility is expected to strengthen the linkage between research and industry, while accelerating the development of domestic nickel processing technology.
In the long term, this synergy is important for reducing dependence on external technology and strengthening the national innovation base.