Eramet to spend US$2B to start production at Weda Bay nickel project
Saturday, June 9 2007 - 01:58 AM WIB
French miner Eramet will invest US$2 billion to bring its Weda Bay nickel project on stream in 2012, Reuters reported Friday.
The cost is at the top end of the US$1.5-US$2 billion range the company forecast when it took over the project in May last year.
At full tilt, the east Indonesia mine will produce 60,000 t of nickel and 4,000 t of cobalt annually, executive vice President Francois-Gabriel Sauvage said, doubling the firm`s worldwide nickel output.
Eramet is now conducting a feasibility study for the project on Halmahera island, east of Sulawesi.
That could take up to three years, followed by two to three years of construction, Sauvage told a stainless steel conference in Hong Kong organised by Metal Bulletin.
Sauvage said the latest estimates showed Weda Bay had nickel reserves of up to 5 Mt, higher than the just over 4Mt estimated at the time of its acquisition.
"This project is roughly the size of the Goro project," he said, referring to a major project in New Caledonia, owned by Brazil`s CVRD, for which Inco Ltd of Canada had spent more than US$1 billion for development.
The French firm joins the likes of Newmont Mining Corp and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc in Southeast Asia`s biggest economy, a country rich with copper, gold, tin, nickel and oil. (*)