JAKARTA, April 7 (Reuters) - Indonesian nickel company PT Ceria Nugraha Indotama has secured a syndicated loan of $277.69 million from domestic banks to help finance $2.2 billion worth of nickel processing projects, the energy ministry said on Thursday.

Ceria, through its subsidiary Ceria Metalindo Prima, signed the loan deal with Bank Mandiri, Bank Jawa Barat Banten and Bank Sulawesi Selatan Barat to fund construction of the one-line Rotary Kiln Electric Furnace (RKEF) plant in Southeast Sulawesi province, which will have a capacity of 23,000 tonnes per year.

Top nickel producer Indonesia has ambitious plans to process its rich supplies of nickel laterite ore used in lithium batteries and eventually become a global electric vehicle production and export hub.

Ceria is planning to build four lines of RKEF plants with overall output capacity of 252,000 tonnes of ferronickel plus a High Pressure Acid Leach (HPAL) plant with capacity of 103,000 tones of Mixed Hydroxide Precipitate (MHP) annually.

The first line of RKEF plan is due to start commercial production in 2023 and the HPAL plant in 2024.

Ceria President director Derian Sakmiwata in a statement from the energy ministry said that once fully operational, the $2.2 billion facilities will have a workforce of 5,000. (Reporting by Bernadette Christina Munthe; Editing by Martin Petty)