Rio Tinto to sign contract for Sulawesi nickel mine soon

Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto hopes to soon sign a contract of work for the company?s nickel mine concession area in Sulawesi as all the administrative procedures for the contract application have been completed.

PT Rio Tinto Indonesia?s president director Omar S. Anwar said that the company had almost completed all the administrative requirement for the contract which would cover a 73,000 hectare-nickel mining concession in the border areas of Central Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi.

?The administrative process for the contract application with the central government has been completed. We are now completing the administrative procedures with the local government,? he said, adding that the contract would be valid for 30 years and extendable for another 20 years.

The company plans to invest up to US$2 billion to develop the Sulawesi nickel mine and to begin pre-feasibility study in 2009. In 2010, Rio Tinto plans to carry out front end engineering design (FEED) and to begin engineering procurement and construction (EPC) in 2011.

Omar said that the company hoped to begin the nickel shipment from the mine in 2011.

The signing of the contract has been delayed for years as many parts of the company?s concession area overlap with the mining areas of other companies which have already received licenses from the local governments. (*)