IMIP sees nickel capacity to triple next year
Thursday, December 17 2015 - 01:56 AM WIB
Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP), a nickel-based industrial estate in Central Sulawesi, expects nickel pig iron (NPI) production capacity in the estate to triple from current level next year.
Alexander Barus, CEO of IMIP Group, said that PT Sulawesi Mining Investment (SMI) currently operates a nickel smelter with annual capacity of 300,000 tons NPI.
He said that a second smelter operated by PT Guang Ching Nickel & Stainless Steel Industry (GCNS) will add another 600,000 tons per year of NPI capacity in April of 2016.
?By April, we?ll have 900,000 tons of NPI output (per year),? Alexander said on Tuesday.
He explained that GCNS is currently in the process of trial of four new furnaces, and another four in January-February, to make a total of eight furnaces.
SMI has invested about US$635 million in its smelter project, equipped with a 2x65 MW power plant, while GCNS invests $1.04 billion with a 2x150 MW.
Meanwhile, Bisnis Indonesia quoted Alexander as saying that SMI, which is part of IMIP Group, has decided to increase investment in the estate by another $740 million to build a 1 million-ton per year stainless steel plant, and a 1.2 million-ton per year of smelter ferro chrome to be eligible for a tax holiday facility from the government.
He said that the minister of finance has promised the tax holiday facility if SMI could integrate its smelter with stainless steel facility.
The $100 million stainless steel plant and $640 million smelter ferro chrome are expected to be completed in 2018. The chrome ore raw material will be imported from Zimbabwe.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak