PT.Inco may be able get clearance for expansion soon: CEO

South Sulawesi nickel miner PT.Inco said on Wednesday it might soon be able to get clearance from Ministry of Forestry to enable the company to expand operations of its mine.

CEO Arif Siregar said Inco had appropriated 390 hectares of land to substitute the portion of forest that it would use to build a hydro power plant project and the land had been inspected by officials form the ministry. ?I hope the permit would be issued soon,? he said, hinting that the permit might be issued in March this year.

Lack of permit from the Ministry of forestry had caused Inco to delay expansion works that will see its output to increase by 20 percent to 200 million pound annually that was initially seen to start from 2009. ?If the permit could be issued soon, expansion plan would be completed in 2010,? Siregar said.

Under the regulation issued by the Ministry of Forestry, part of protected forest area can be used for commercial purposes as long as the user replaces the area twice the size of the land it used.

Siregar added that the delay would cause investment of the project to exceed previous estimate of $275-to-$280 million, said the company said, without giving latest estimate figure.

PT Inco is controlled by Brazil's Companhia Vale do Rio Doce through Inco Ltd. (alex)