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In a move
expected to give eastern Indonesia an economic boost, a French mining group
plans to invest in a nickel mining project in North Malaku.
“Eramet
will have spent around $450 million on this project before the final investment
decision,” Eramet’s chairman and chief executive officer, Patrick Buffet, said
on Wednesday after meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
The $450
million is part of the first phase of a $6 billion investment that would
develop a nickel and cobalt mine as well as a processing plant on North
Malaku’s Halmahera Island, he said.
He added
that Eramet would provide a complete investment plan for the project by the end
of 2012 after settling permits and agreements on key issues with the Indonesian
government.
After the
first phase is complete, the Weda Bay Nickel project is expected to produce
35,000 tons of nickel a year. After the second phase, that should increase to
65,000 tons. Buffet said the project could employ about 6,000 people.
It will
include the development of several mining centers in Halmahera, a
hydro-metallurgical plant and facilities that provide electricity, water
treatment and other basic infrastructure like roads and housing.
Hatta
Rajasa, the coordinating minister for the economy, said the president welcomed
the plan.
“This is
one of the biggest investments in eastern Indonesia and will support the
government’s Master Plan for the Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesia’s
Econo mic Growth,” Hatta said.
Energy
Minister Darwin Zahedy Saleh said the project should be completed by 2015.
Eramet has
mining operations in New Caledonia for nickel and in Gabon for manganese.
Weda Bay
Nickel is a joint venture with Japanese trading house Mitsubishi and Indonesian
state-owned miner Aneka Tambang, commonly known as Antam.
Eramet
holds a stake of 54 percent, Antam 10 percent and Mitsubishi the remainder.
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