Weda to mine nickel and cobalt in Halmahera
Wednesday, June 21 2000 - 02:45 AM WIB
Canadian exploration firm Weda Bay Minerals said on Tuesday that it would develop 117-ton high-grade laterite deposit on Halmahera Island, North Maluku, which contains an average of 1.46 percent nickel and 0.15 percent cobalt.
Weda chief executive officer Louis Clinton said his company would conduct feasibility study in December 2001. Production activities are expected to start in March 2004.
Clinton said Weda would avoid using laterite technology in mining nickel and cobalt in Halmahera by studying all problems which might emerge in the future.
``We are focused (on this). We are studying Australian issues and will avoid those problems,'' Louis Clinton, President and Chief Executive Officer of Weda said at a presentation.
Three Australian companies are exploiting new technology to access nickel laterite resources but have encountered a raft of teething problems.
Clinton said Weda would be aware of the difficulties faced, but was confident about its knowledge of Indonesia and nickel.
Weda has entered into a strategic alliance with the U.S.-based specialty chemicals company OM Group Inc, which will take the entire product from the first phase of the project for treatment at OM's Harjavalta refinery in Finland.
The concentrate should produce around 45,000 tons of nickel and 4,000 tons of cobalt per annum. Based on projected production cost of $3.00/lb for nickel and $10.00/lb for cobalt, the net cash costs will be $0.27/lb. Without cobalt by-products, costs will be $0.75 for nickel. (*)