Vale Base Metals is committing $10 billion for investment in Indonesia over the next decade to capture demand for metals such as nickel and copper for electric vehicle production, its chief executive said on Thursday.

Indonesia has asked the United States to begin talks on a trade deal for critical minerals so that exports from the Southeast Asian country can be covered under the US Inflation Reduction Act, an Indonesian ministry said on Thursday.

Vale Base Metals has committed nearly $9-billion for investment in Indonesia, including for its development of high-pressure acid leaching (HPAL) plants for nickel, chief executive Deshnee Naidoo said on Thursday.

Indonesia’s mining quota distribution has been delayed having reverted to an older approval process due to an ongoing investigation into illegal mining, a senior official said on Monday, assuring there was sufficient nickel ore for smelters.

Prices of nickel ore in top global producer Indonesia have surged about 10% in recent weeks, say local buyers, after an investigation into mining quotas disrupted production of the metal used in stainless steel and batteries.

MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC has established an office in Dubai, becoming the largest Russian metals and mining firm to set up in the United Arab Emirates following the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine.

Major Chinese nickel maker Tsingshan Group has started commercial production of refined nickel in Indonesia, three sources familiar with the production told Reuters on Monday.

The global nickel market had a surplus of 27,400 metric tons in June, compared with a surplus of 16,200 tons in the same month last year, data from the International Nickel Study Group (INSG) showed on Monday.