VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesia’s state miner Mining Industry Indonesia (MIND ID), formerly known as PT Inalum, completed its purchase of a 20% stake in nickel miner PT Vale Indonesia, the country’s state-owned enterprises ministry said on Thursday.

MIND ID bought the 20% stake at Rp 2,780 per share, totaling to Rp 5.52 trillion ($375.77 million), the ministry said in a statement.

Brazil's Vale Group controls 44.34% of PT Vale Indonesia INCO.JK, while Japan's Sumimoto Metal Mining Co. Ltd holds 15.93% of shares, the ministry said.

MIND ID bought a 14.9% stake from Vale Canada Ltd, the Canadian subsidiary of Vale Group, and 5.1% from Sumimoto, according to the statement.

“With this transaction, we add more state ownership in the mining sector,” state-owned enterprises minister Erick Thohir said.

“This is also a great step to strengthen the value chain in Indonesian and the development of the battery industry for electric cars.”

The Indonesian government is keen to build a holistic onshore electric vehicle (EV) industry, covering everything from the production of nickel chemicals needed for batteries, through to producing those batteries and eventually building vehicles domestically.

Mining Industry Indonesia changed its name from PT Inalum in August to distinguish its holding company function from its smelting operational business. (Reuters)