Construction of nickel smelter in South Konawe commences

PT Bintang Smelter Indonesia (BSI), an affiliate of mining firm PT Ifishdeco that manages a planned nickel smelter in South Konawe, Southeast Sulawesi, said that early construction works have been underway.

The smelting facility is estimated to cost about US$100 million and will be built on an area of 70 hectares, said BSI President Director Harrison Iyawan in a media briefing in Kendari on Monday, as reported by local media.

"We have started the construction this November. It will take around two years to complete. So we're looking at the end of 2015 for operation commencement," said Harrison.

In the project, BSI represents a consortium of 4 companies as the main shareholders. Three of which are national firms, namely Ifishdeco, PT Tekindo Group and Group Finna Surabaya. Another company is PAN China, a subsidiary of Fujian PAN Chinese Mining Co, Limited.

Nickel ore will be supplied by Ifishdeco and PT Tekindo, a miner that has a mining operation in Central Halmahera, North Maluku.

The smelter's end product will be nickel pig iron (NPI). "The capacity will be 100,000 tons of NPI per year," said Erwin Yanan, General Manager (GM) of Ifishdeco. (*)