Australia has had its issues with slow ramp up and poor design with first-generation high pressure acidAcid leachingLeaching (HPAL) plants such as Murrin Murrin (still operating), Cawse and Bulong. They failed to meet nameplate capacity and operating costs were higher than predicted. The second-generation plants such as Goro and Ravensthorpe were also problematic. Current nickelNickel prices are at an all-time low and even sulphide nickelNickel projects have closed due to current low nickelNickel prices. At the same time, IndonesiaIndonesia has now built three third-generation HPALHigh-Pressure Acid Leaching (HPAL) projects and is planning seven more. They are also building moreFerronickel ferro-nickelNickel projects using nickel lateritesNickel laterite processed by the rotary kiln electric arc furnaceElectric arc furnaces using low costLow cost Kalimantan coal as the fuel. The usual phases of project developmentDevelopment; namely feasibility, approval, construction and commissioning have also taken place in record time. Globally, there a number of HPALHigh-Pressure Acid Leaching (HPAL) projects in the pipeline but banks in particular are negative on funding and the projects are stalled particularly in Australia based on past HPAL projects.. For nickel sulphideNickel sulphide concentrates, pressure oxidationPressure Oxidation (POX) or Sherritt Gordon ammoniacal pressure leachingLeaching has been successfully applied, particularly in Canada, and the process has been continuously improved. Nickel sulphidesNickel sulphide are extracted from large open pit and underground sources and thus have higher capital and operating costs and generally longer developmentDevelopment timelines particularly underground mines. Brazil, Australia, New Caledonia, the Philippines and Africa have large reserves of lateritic nickelNickel but cannot currently compete with Indonesian low CAPEX and operating costs. This paper looks at why IndonesiaIndonesia has been successful with their HPAL plants and what is holding back the other projects being developed. Why has IndonesiaIndonesia been able to ramp up to design capacity in less than 12 months compared to an average of more than five years in other countries. It also investigates the potential environmentalEnvironmental impacts of this rapid developmentDevelopment.