Chinese firm to build ferronickel smelter in SE Sulawesi
Saturday, January 10 2015 - 04:37 AM WIB
China?s Virtue Dragon Nickel Industry plans to build a US$5 billion ferronickel smelter in the Konawe industrial zone, Southeast Sulawesi, reports said Saturday.
President Director of Virtue Dragon Andrew Zhu was quoted as saying that the smelter would have a total capacity of 3 million tons per year. It would be built in three stages. The first 600,000 tons per year capacity is expected to be completed by the end of 2015 or next year, the second 1.2 million tons capacity in 2017, and the remainder 600,000 tons capacity in 2019/2020.
Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Indonesian Minister of Industry Saleh Husin, Zhu said that much of the output will be exported to China.
To support the operation of the smelter, Dragon will also develop a 335 MW power plant, and a 50,000 DWT port facility. (*)