Chinese firm invests $2 billion in nickel smelting project

2025 China (Guangdong)-ASEAN Trade Promotion and Supply Chain Cooperation Mechanism Construction Matchmaking and Exchange Meeting was held earlier in Guangzhou, during which Guangxin Group signed the Indonesia Guangqing Nickel and Cobalt Wet Smelting Project.The new project is jointly built by Guangxin Group and Castle Peak Industries, and is a global benchmark project with an annual production capacity of 80,000 tons of nickel and cobalt intermediates. With a total investment of about 2 billion dollars, the project is expected to be in trial production by the end of 2026, and the annual profit will be about 2 billion dollars after reaching production. The product is nickel cobalt hydroxide, which is applied to new energy ternary lithium battery anode material. The use of RMB for funding, financing and settlement is an innovative case of "RMB internationalization". Guangxin Group is a wholly-owned enterprise of Guangdong Provincial Government, with manufacturing industry as the main body, capital investment as the main responsibility and market-oriented,mixed ownershipAs a state-owned capital investment company, it has been ranked No. 414 in the Fortune 500 for 2024. The company is actively practicing the national initiative of "One Belt, One Road", and its overseas revenue accounted for 36%. ASEAN is one of the main positions of its overseas business, and the revenue from ASEAN region accounted for 86.3% of the Group's overseas revenue, which is an important growth pole. Starting from foreign trade, the company has accelerated its manufacturing and supply chain projects in ASEAN in recent years, such as the Indonesia Guangqing project, which was built in 2014 as a joint venture with Castle Peak Industries in Indonesia, as well as related projects in Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore and other places. Indonesia Guangqing nickel and cobalt wet smelting project is another milestone for Guangxin Group to deepen the cooperation with ASEAN industry chain, which will provide an effective guarantee for the stable supply of nickel resources for global new energy batteries, and the Group will also take this opportunity to increase the layout of investment in ASEAN, and work together to build a more resilient cross-border industry chain, contributing to the development of Guangdong and building a neighboring community of destiny.