Weda Bay smelter developer asked to complete construction in 2015
Saturday, October 1 2011 - 05:37 AM WIB
PT Weda Bay Nickel plans to build a smelter plant in Halmahera at an estimated cost of US$ 4.6 billion. Construction of the facility is scheduled to start in 2013 and would be built in cooperation with Mitsubishi of Japan and PT Aneka Tambang Tbk (Antam).
The smelter will be developed to support the Weda Bay nickel project which is operated by PT Weda Bay Nickel.
PT Weda Bay Nickel (WBN) is 90 percent owned by Strand Minerals (Indonesia) Pte Ltd. Eramet Controls 56.6 percent stake at Strand with the balance (33.4 percent) held by Japan's Mitsubishi Corp. Antam currently has 10 percent stake at WBN.
?President Director of Eramet has submitted proposal, explaining that the smelter project will be completed in 2017. However, we disagreed. We know that the smelter plant construction can be completed in three years,? said Al Yasin.
?Therefore, we asked them to complete the construction in 2015. Eramet side has agreed,? said Al Yasin. He said assuming that the smelter construction is completed as expected, the smelter would commence operation in 2016.
The Weda Bay deposit is one of the largest undeveloped nickel projects globally, with an updated 5.1 million tons nickel contained in measured, indicated and inferred ore resources. The targeted annual capacity is at 65,000 tons of nickel.
The project would use a hydrometallurgical process developed by ERAMET at its research centre in France.
Meanwhile, President Director of Antam, Alwinsyah Loebis, reiterated that Antam has an option to raise its stakes gradually in PT Weda Bay Nickel to 40 percent. (giok)