Chinese company to invest $6bn in aluminum production

Chinese company, Shandong Nanshan, is planning to transform its alumina plant in Indonesia into an aluminum manufacturing complex worth $6 billion by 2028.

The media on Monday reported that Shandong Nanshan launched its alumina plant in Indonesia’s special economic zone on the island of Bintan in November 2022.

“Currently, the plant is working at full capacity, processing bauxite extracted on the island of Kalimantan into alumina, or aluminum oxide.’’

“It is then exported to Malaysia and other neighboring countries, where pure aluminum is extracted from it.’’

”The Chinese firm plans to start construction of a new aluminum enterprise with a capacity of 250,000 tonnes a year by the end of 2023,” Indonesian News Agency, ANTARA reported, citing a company official.

The project is part of a plan to build an aluminum smelting complex with a capacity of 1 million tonnes a year by 2028.

The enterprise is expected to produce high-quality aluminum materials for aircraft and the electric transport industry.

Investments in the complex are estimated at $6 billion, the report said.

Aluminum customers of the Nanshan Group, with which Shandong Nanshan is incorporated, include large corporations such as Airbus, Boeing and Tesla.

Over the past few years, Indonesia has made active attempts to head up the global rare metals market by increasing the volume of enterprises manufacturing bauxite and nickel ore on its territory.

Thus, New Delhi hoped to increase the final cost of the goods supplied to the market.

In December, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said that Indonesia would stop exporting bauxite ore from June 2023 to stimulate domestic manufacturing industry.