The demand for nickel cobalt hydroxide MHP will continue to rise, and domestic enterprises will accelerate their overseas investment.

Nickel cobalt hydroxide (MHP) is prepared from laterite nickel ore using high-pressure acid leaching technology (HPAL). Nickel cobalt hydroxide can be used to prepare nickel sulfate. Nickel sulfate is one of the core components of the precursor of the cathode material for ternary lithium batteries. The ternary lithium battery is one of the important directions for the development of power batteries and has a large market space in the future. In addition to nickel cobalt hydroxide, nickel sulfate can also be prepared from high matte nickel. At this stage, the proportion of nickel sulfate prepared from nickel cobalt hydroxide as raw material is about 50%. Nickel cobalt hydroxide is still the main source of raw materials for nickel sulfate. .

The global new energy vehicle industry is developing rapidly, and the demand for power batteries for electric vehicles continues to rise. Since high-nickel ternary cathode materials have the advantages of high energy density, low self-discharge rate, and good electrochemical performance, ternary lithium batteries are the mainstream power source. For battery product types, the demand for nickel as an upstream raw material continues to increase. According to data from the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, my country’s demand for nickel from ternary precursors will increase to 129,000 metal tons in 2020. Against this background, the demand for nickel and cobalt hydroxide continues to rise.

According to the “2021-2025 Nickel Cobalt Hydroxide (MHP) Industry In-depth Market Research and Investment Strategy Suggestions Report” released by the Industrial Research CenterIt shows that both nickel cobalt hydroxide and high matte nickel can produce nickel sulfate, and the two are in competition with each other. Using laterite nickel ore as raw material, high matte nickel can be prepared by pyro-smelting. The pyro-smelting process used by my country Qingshan Holdings was improved on the nickel-containing pig iron production line. In comparison, the investment cost of equipment for preparing nickel and cobalt hydroxide by high-pressure acid leaching is higher, but the production cost is lower. If the price difference between nickel cobalt hydroxide and high matte nickel is not big, the downstream market will favor nickel cobalt hydroxide because it contains both nickel and cobalt raw materials.

MCC is one of my country’s representative nickel and cobalt hydroxide producers. The Ramu Nickel and Cobalt Laterite Mine project it invested in Papua New Guinea began production at the end of 2012. It has continuously achieved overproduction since 2016, and the average production rate for the whole year in 2020 It is 103.2%, and the produced nickel and cobalt hydroxide contains 33,659 tons of nickel and 2,941 tons of cobalt. Due to the research and development of technology for preparing high-metal nickel from laterite nickel ore as raw material, global high-metal nickel production will increase significantly. At the same time, global nickel and cobalt hydroxide production capacity is also expanding.

my country’s Huayou Cobalt, Tsingshan Holdings, and China Molybdenum have jointly invested in the 60,000-ton nickel metal capacity nickel-cobalt hydroxide (MHP) hydrometallurgy project in Morowali Industrial Park in Indonesia. It is expected to be completed and put into trial production by the end of 2021. The total investment in the project is expected to be 12.8 One hundred million U.S. dollars. From this point of view, the global production of nickel and cobalt hydroxide will also continue to increase. For a long time to come, nickel and cobalt hydroxide will continue to compete with high matte nickel for the downstream ternary cathode material market.

Industry analysts said that my country’s nickel ore resources are of high quality, but after continuous mining, the current reserves are becoming increasingly scarce and cannot support electric vehicles. With the development of the industry, companies related to the domestic nickel industry chain have entered overseas countries with rich nickel ore resources. Indonesia is rich in laterite nickel ore resources and has become an important investor. Indonesia’s nickel and cobalt hydroxide production will continue to grow in the future. Affected by the scarcity of raw materials, domestic nickel and cobalt hydroxide production is limited, and imports will continue to increase in the future.