Bintang Delapan to complete nickel smelter in April

Mining company PT Bintang Delapan is expected to complete the construction of its nickel pig iron smelter in Morowali, Central Sulawesi, in April of this year, Kontan reported on Friday.

The paper quoted Edi Prasodjo, Director of Mineral Development and Management at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, as saying that construction progress of the smelter has reached more than 80 percent.

Bintang Delapan has set up a joint venture company called PT Sulawesi Mining Investment (SMI) with Tsingshan, a unit of China?s Dingxin Group, to develop the smelter. The company will first develop the first stage with a capacity of 300,000 tons per year. It will later be expanded to reach a capacity of 500,000 tons per year. (*)