Indonesia Reports Construction of at Least Five Factories to Produce Battery-Grade Nickel Chemicals for Electric Vehicles

Priority is use of in-Country Nickel Resources

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pacific Rim Cobalt Corp. (the “Company” or “Pacific Rim Cobalt”) (CSE: BOLT) (OTCQB: PCRCF) (FRANKFURT: NXFE), an Indonesia-based company focused on developing nickel-cobalt opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region, is pleased to report that Indonesia has approved environmental impact studies for factories to produce battery-grade nickel chemicals in Morowali, Coordinating Minister of Maritime and Investment Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan said on Wednesday*.

The approval will allow investors, such as China's stainless steel giant Tsingshan Group, to continue the construction of their high-pressure acid leaching plants in Morowali, Central Sulawesi.

Ranjeet Sundher, CEO of Pacific Rim Cobalt said, “Indonesia continues to make significant strategic decisions and this latest announcement represents an important step in Pacific Rim Cobalt’s efforts to benefit from Indonesia’s rapid development as a leading market for all stages of the EV supply chain. With offices in Vancouver, Shanghai and Jakarta, Pacific Rim Cobalt is well positioned to leverage Asia’s global dominance in the battery manufacturing sector.”

During 2019 the Company carried out an extensive exploration and development program on its flagship, 5000 hectare Cyclops project, located in Papua Province, Indonesia and achieved successful Nickel results with its drilling and bench-scale scoping tests for processing of materials.

• The recovery percentages form the bench-scale test program are set out below (for further information, please refer to the Company’s press release of October 28, 2019):
  

Sample	Ni(%)	Co(%)	Fe(%)
Limonite	99.26	98.82	97.77
Low Iron Transition	99.75	97.03	99.22
Saprolite	99.77	>99.9	99.74

• Selected elevated nickel results are given below from the Company’s shallow drilling program (for further information, please refer to the Company’s press releases of March 5, April 1, April 23, June 13, June 20 and September 10, 2019):                         

Intersection Length (metres from surface)	Nickel Percentage	Cobalt Percentage
7.0	2.15%	0.03%
4.0	1.96%	0.04%
2.0	2.00%	0.01%
2.0	1.91%	0.05%
5.0	1.91%	0.03%
2.0	1.61%	0.26%
6.0	1.78%	0.06%
4.0	1.80%	0.06%
6.0	1.79%	0.05%
6.0	1.76%	0.03%
3.0	1.90%	0.05%
4.0	1.78%	0.06%
5.0	2.24%	0.05%
4.0	1.72%	0.03%

The Company has always maintained that Indonesia is the perfect jurisdiction to take advantage of the burgeoning EV sector.  2019 has seen the continuation of a number of exciting trends and developments which lay the foundations for the continued future growth in every vertical of the EV supply chain. These developments also strengthen Indonesia’s ability to capitalize on its abundant resources, which includes 25% of global nickel reserves.