SE Sulawesi selecting new investors to replace Inco
Tuesday, February 8 2011 - 02:33 AM WIB
?A number of investors have expressed their interest but we have yet to take a pick because the selection should be carried in a transparent and accountable way,? Southeast Sulawesi governor Nur Alam said in the province?s capital Kendari on Monday.
He said that whoever interested in developing the nickel mine formerly owned by Inco, they should meet the local government?s requirement to build a processing facility in the province. The new investors should be able to provide more added values to the local people such as by building a processing facility, he said.
In addition, the new investor should also be committed to carrying out mining activities based on a sustainable mining operation in which the environmental protection should become a priority in its operation.
The provincial administration of Southeast Sulawesi province has recently taken over about 200,000 hectares of mining areas awarded to Inco because the company had not made sufficient mining activities in the area despite the fact that the land area had been awarded for nearly 40 years.
According to the province?s mining office, the mining area formerly owned by Inco has nickel deposits of between 150 million and 200 million tonnes. The nickel ore reserve is enough to support the operation of a processing plant to produce ferronickel with a capacity of 100,000 tonnes a year. (*)