Rio Tinto gets IUP for Sulawesi nickel project

Rio Tinto Indonesia, an Indonesian unit of Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto announced on Tuesday that it had received a mining permit (IUP) from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources for its Sulawesi Nickel Project located in Konawe regency, Southeast Sulawesi, and Morowali regency in Central Sulawesi on the island of Sulawesi in eastern Indonesia.

Budi Irianto, Rio Tinto Indonesia?s spokesperson, confirmed the company had received written confirmation of the permit, which was signed by Director General of Mineral, Coal and Geothermal, Bambang Setiawan, in the Minister Decree of the Ministry of the Energy and Mineral Resources No 318.K/30/DJB/2010 dated 25 February 2010.

?Rio Tinto is pleased that tenure for the project has been secured through granting of this permit,? he said, adding that Rio Tinto can now move forward with reviewing the development options for the project with increased certainty.

Rio Tinto will now focus on completion of an order of magnitude study to progress with identifying the best value development pathway, the Company said. (godang)