voda schreef op 21 maart 2014 19:51:
Bintangdelapan joins Chinese partner to complete USD 5b smelter plant
The Jakarta Globe reported that Bintangdelapan Group has joined hands with Tsingshan Holding Group to build a nickel smelter project in Morowali, Central Sulawesi. Tsingshan is China’s largest ferronickel and stainless steel maker.
The project is estimated to be valued at between USD 4 billion and USD 5 billion. The completed smelter will be owned by Sulawesi Mining Investment, a JV between the two groups.
Mr Alexander Barus VP director of SMI said that “The smelter will process around 9 million tonnes of nickel ore into 900,000 tonnes of ferronickel per year. Ferronickel, which consists of a mixture of iron and nickel, is an important material in stainless steel making and is also used in various electronic devices and batteries.”
SMI held the groundbreaking ceremony for the first stage of the project in June last year. Now, 45% of the construction of the smelter has been completed and currently the plant has a capacity of 300,000 tonnes of ferronickel annually.
For the second stage, the smelter capacity will be increased to 600,000 tonnes and a 300 MW coal fired power plant costing USD 1.04 billion will be built to support the smelter operation. The entire project is planned to be completed before 2018.
Mr Alexander said that the nickel ore would be supplied by Bintangdelapan Mineral a subsidiary of Bintangdelapan Group which has committed to supply up to 3 million tonnes of nickel ore per year.
He said that “Ferronickel output from SMI will be sold to Shanghai Decent Investment. Bintangdelapan and Tsingshan are keen to tap the prospects of the downstream mineral sector, especially after Indonesia moved to ensure value adding of the nation’s natural resources.”
Source - The Jakartaglobe.com