PT Inco seeks $1billion loan to build proposed processing facility
Thursday, March 6 2008 - 01:49 AM WIB
Inco's president director Arif S. Siregar said in Jakarta on Wednesday that the company planned to build a new processing facility using a High Pressure Acid Leach (HPAL) to produce high quality nickel.
Besides producing high grade nickel, the new procession plant would be able to use less energy, he said.
Arif however refused to specify the sources of the loans.
He said that the construction of the new facility, which would processes the company's nickel would cost between $1 billion and $1.5 billion. The construction of the new facility, which is expected to begin in 2010, is scheduled for completion in 2013.
Arif said that the company was still waiting for the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources to approve the construction of the new plant. "When the approval is given, we will open a new mining area in Bahodopi, and then build an 80 kilometer road linking the mining area to the new processing plant," he added.
On Feb 4, 2008, the company reported that its management had met with government to discuss the company?s obligations under its Contract of Work (CoW). PT Inco presented plans to allow it to commence mining operations at Bahodopi and to construct a HPAL processing facility at Sorowako in substitution for the its obligation in the CoW to construct a processing facility at Bahodopi.
If all plans are approved by the government, the company expects that the proposed processing facility in Sorowako will produce approximately 48.5 million pounds or 22,000 tons of nickel annually. Under this plan, the ore from Bahodopi will be combined with ore from the Sorowako area to feed the existing pyrometallurgical processing facility in Sorowako. (*)