Nickel Matte (RKEF Converter Matte & Sulphide Smelter Matte)

Nickel sulphide matte from Indonesian RKEF converters and sulphide smelters, sold on contained nickel, cobalt and copper to refiners

Nickel matte is the molten nickel sulphide phase formed when a smelter melts nickel ore or concentrate, and it is sold as an intermediate for the manufacture of refined nickel. Two routes make it. Indonesian laterite smelters produce it on RKEF lines finished in converters: PT Vale Indonesia's Sorowako operation produced 70,728 MT of nickel matte in 2023 at an average 78% Ni, 1–2% cobalt and 20–21% sulphur, from a plant rated at 180–216 MT of matte a day and powered by 365 MW of its own hydroelectric capacity, and a listed Indonesian producer whose RKEF lines sit in the Morowali and Weda Bay parks has converted some of them from NPI to nickel matte as it moves into the battery supply chain. Sulphide smelters make it from concentrates: Boliden Harjavalta in Finland, the only nickel smelter in Western Europe, smelts concentrates and recycled metals and produced 34,000 MT of nickel in 2025. Matte is declared under HS 7501.10, nickel mattes. UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations under 7501.10 total USD 5.97 billion and about 500,400 MT across 23 reporters: Indonesia USD 3.18 billion and 316,900 MT, of which USD 1.95 billion went to China and USD 1.03 billion to Japan; Zimbabwe USD 989 million and 34,100 MT, almost all to South Africa; Canada USD 922 million and 64,800 MT, all to Norway; and Finland USD 671 million and 71,200 MT, to Norway, France, Canada and Japan. Those are declared export values, not offers.

The buyer is a nickel refinery, a nickel sulphate or precursor producer, or a trader with refinery offtake, and the offer is a price on the contained nickel, with cobalt, copper and any precious metals settled as the contract sets, for a stated assay, sulphur and iron content and lot. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers nickel matte from smelter and trader allocations against an independent assay of nickel, cobalt, copper, iron and sulphur with umpire terms, the smelter's certificate of analysis, weights and a certificate of origin. Origin rules come first. Indonesia has banned raw nickel ore exports since January 2020, set its 2026 RKAB ore quota at 260–270 million wet MT, and in March 2026 approved in principle an export duty on matte, NPI, ferronickel and MHP that it postponed on 11 May 2026. Zimbabwe put nickel and platinum-group metals on the critical minerals list declared on 22 May 2026, under which a listed mineral leaves only at an approved beneficiation level or under a Ministry-approved transitional plan, with beneficiation schedules due within 90 days of the declaration. US and EU buyers screen the chain as well: the US Department of Labor lists nickel from Indonesia as produced with forced labour, the EU Forced Labour Regulation applies from 14 December 2027, and the US Department of Energy counts a covered government as in control of an entity at 25% of its board seats, voting rights or equity. The file follows the OECD five-step due diligence framework, with the smelter, its ore or concentrate source and its power source named. Form, pack and lot size are confirmed per contract, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms. Send the nickel grade, sulphur and impurity limits, tonnage and discharge port, and the enquiry is screened and worked against it.

Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.