PT Inco expects to get government approval for expansion next few weeks

PT International Nickel Indonesia Tbk (PT Inco) expects to receive the government approval for its proposed expansion plans worth $275 million within the next few weeks, an executive of parent company was quoted by Dow Jones as saying on Friday

?All the planning has been done, the team has been assembled, we?ve even done some pre-work,? Canadian-based Inco Limited?s Chairman and Chief Executive Scott Hand told Dow Jones in an interview, adding that PT Inco is working on final arrangements with the government and financing.

Hand said the four-year project expansion would enable PT Inco to boost production capacity by 25 percent to 200 million pounds of nickel matte.

Under the project expansion, PT Inco planned a third dam on the Larona River to raise its hydroelectric power generating capacity by 90 megawatts or about 33 percent of the existing combined capacity.

PT Inco has a nickel mining license that covers 218,000 hectares in South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi and Central Sulawesi. The company produced 159 million pounds of nickel in matte in 2004. (*)