On the morning of May 15, 2021, three 560m3 core equipment unit autoclaves for hydro-metallurgy of the Nickel Resource Project of GEM-controlled PT. QMB New Energy Materials Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “QMB”) were seen in the delivery & shipping ceremony held in the Nantong Morimatsu Wharf in Jiangsu Province. The ceremony was attended by shareholder representative of QMB, Professor Xu Kaihua, board chairman of GEM, representative of Morimatsu (Jiangsu) Heavy Industry Co., Ltd., and representative of Shanghai Decent Investment (Group) Co., Ltd., etc., who witnessed the major equipment made in China shipped to the overseas market for the nickel resource hydro-metallurgy to secure the supply of new-energy nickel resources for China. This is an important milestone in the construction process of QMB Indonesian Nickel Resources Project, marking the transition from the project civil construction to key equipment installation. In this way, the project has stepped onto the fast track. It will effectively ensure the construction goal of completing the project construction within 2021 and putting into operation at the beginning of 2022.

QMB Indonesian Nickel Resources Project is a new-energy materials project using laterite nickel mine as the raw materials, which is controlled by GEM and jointly invested by Tsingshan, BRUNP RECYCLING, IMIP and Hanwa in Indonesia. It is an important move of GEM to make strategic layout of global nickel resources. Upon completion, the project will become one of the global models for the direct production of new energy battery raw materials from Indonesian laterite nickel ore, thus becoming one of the core new energy battery raw material bases in the world. It will promote the application of Indonesian nickel resources from the traditional stainless steel field to the new energy field in the world.

The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 has brought difficulties to the QMB Indonesian Nickel Resources Project. The project staff were once called back, and the project construction stopped for a while. In order to overcome the impact of the epidemic to the greatest extent and better facilitate the Indonesian Nickel Resources Project, thanks to the support and understanding of all partners, GEM announced in March 2021 about the formal agreement to increase the equity of Indonesia Nickel Resources Project to 72%. After increasing the shareholding ratio, GEM makes full use of the initiative of Indonesian Nickel Resources Project to restructure the construction team. Thousands of construction personnel, in spite of the pandemic, went overseas to speed up construction.

More Chinese equipments are used in the QMB Nickel Resources Project, accounting for more than 90% of the key equipment, thus witnessing the Chinese equipment getting into the global field of chemical smelting of nickel resources. The world-famous pressure container manufacturer Morimatsu has designed and manufactured 560m3 autoclave for QMB, which is a stable and superior model in the industrialization of nickel hydro-metallurgy in the world. Featured by reliable performance, efficient reaction and flexible operation, it is a key equipment for hydro-metallurgy. Overcoming various difficulties such as the epidemic impact, Morimatsu strictly follows production standard and technical requirements, spending 20 months before delivering the equipment.

At the workshop of delivery ceremony, Professor Xu Kaihua, Board Chairman of GEM expressed heartfelt thanks and respect to Morimatsu and DECENT Group. He said, in the background of high nickel development of new-energy ternary power batteries, GEM has confirmed the 500,000 metal-ton nickel resources and price model in Indonesia in advance while fully adopting low-cost manufacturing technology. It is very important to control the cost of raw materials and ensure the company’s demand for nickel raw materials, which will be conducive to the future pricing, and building a global competitive ternary precursor material supply system. He said that GEM will work hand in hand with all shareholders to promote the high-speed construction of QMB project, complete all construction objectives of QMB project on schedule in 2021, and ensure that QMB project will be put into operation in early 2022, so that it will enjoy the bonus of nickel resources as soon as possible, and create benefits for shareholders as soon as possible.

Representatives of participating companies expressed warm congratulations on the delivery of the autoclaves, saying they firmly believe in the prospect of QMB Indonesian Nickel Resources Project. They will cooperate closely to jointly promote the smooth operation and production of the project. At the same time, they hoped all parties can cooperate more deeply in the future, so as to carry out more extensive and deeper cooperation and make further progress in the field of new energy power battery materials in the world.

At 11:18 a.m., signatures were made for the delivery of three 560m3 sets of hydro-metallurgy core equipment for QMB Indonesian Nickel Resources Project. Mr. Sheng Ye, Vice President of Morimatsu Group and General Manager of Morimatsu Heavy Industry, Professor Xu Kaihua, Board Chairman of GEM, President Wang Haijun of DECENT Group, and Liu Zongmiao, Director of President Office and Invesment Manager of BRUNP, and other representatives jointly cut the ribbon to congratulate the delivery of the three autoclaves.

At 11:58, when fireworks and salutes were fired in Morimatsu wharf, the hydro-metallurgy autoclaves for QMB Indonesian Nickel Resources Project had been loaded, about to be shipped to the site of QMB project in Sulawesi Tengah of Indonesia. The made-in-China heavy equipment set out to work in the field of hydro-metallurgy of nickel resources in the world, ready to contribute to securing the nickel resource supply for the new energy development in China.

Photo 1 Sketch of QMB Indonesian Nickel Resources Project

Photo 2 Construction site of QMB Indonesian Nickel Resources Project

Photo 3 Autoclaves were shipped for the QMB Indonesian Nickel Resources

Photo 4 Professor Xu Kaihua, Board Chairman of GEM was speaking

Photo 5 Professor Xu Kaihua, Board Chairman of GEM granted gratitude plate to Morimatsu Heavy Industry and DECENT Group

Photo 6 Signatures were made for delivery of autoclaves for QMB Indonesian Nickle Resources Project

Photo 7 VIP participants cut the ribbon for the delivery of autoclaves for QMB Indonesian Nickel Resource Project

Photo 8 Group photo of VIP participants in delivery ceremony of autoclaves for QMB Indonesian Nickel Resource Project