Electric vehicles drive new nickel and copper projects

Jinchuan Group, the largest nickel producer in China, will begin construction on a new project in Guangxi next year to produce raw materials for electric vehicles (EVs), its chairman said.

The project, in the southern port city of Fangchenggang, where the Jinchuan plant is already smelting copper and nickel, will produce 30,000 tons of nickel and 3,000 tons of cobalt annually by 2020, Wang Yongqiang said.

“The company's three main metals are all raw materials for electric vehicles,” Wang said, predicting “explosive growth” in EV in China over the next five to ten years. Wang was in Beijing this week to attend the 19th Congress of the Communist Party.

“We are really experiencing a decline in dynamics in traditional industries. At the same time, we feel deeply ... the strategic transformation brought about by the new economy, ”he said, calling the EV revolution a“ turning point ”for Jinchuan, which will have an impact on the company based in Gansu in northwest China.

Nickel demand in China from the EV sector is expected to rise to 150,000 tons by 2025, Wang said, without specifying the current demand figure. According to him, for cobalt it will grow fivefold to 30,000 tons.

Combined with the new Fangchenggang project, the company will be able to increase its production of cobalt for batteries from 8,000 tonnes this year to 20,000 tonnes by 2020, when its nickel sulfate production reaches 300,000 tonnes. The company currently produces 150,000 tons of nickel per year.