China's Tsingshan to supply nickel matte to Huayou Cobalt, CNGR – Reuters

China's Tsingshan Holding Group Co. Ltd. agreed to supply Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co. Ltd. and CNGR Advanced Material Co. Ltd. with a combined 100,000 tonnes of nickel matte, a material used in making electric vehicle batteries, Reuters reported March 3, citing a Tsingshan statement posted on its WeChat social media account.

Tsingshan will ship 60,000 tonnes of nickel matte to Huayou and 40,000 tonnes to CNGR within one year starting in October, according to the report.

Tsingshan is also reportedly eyeing more investments in Indonesia, where the company is part of a consortium developing a nickel project. Tsingshan also plans to team up with Freeport-McMoRan Inc. to build a copper smelter in the country. Tsingshan forecast nickel equivalent production of 600,000 tonnes in 2021, 850,000 tonnes in 2022 and 1.1 million tonnes in 2023. The company has not revealed its 2020 production figures.

The report said Tsingshan also plans to adjust its production of nickel matte and nickel pig iron, a stainless steel input, based on demand and prices.