11 New Nickel Smelters Set for Construction in Indonesia

Reuters reported that over the next two years 11 new nickel smelters are set to be built in Indonesia. All told they will cost $1.4 billion to construct.

As quoted in the market news:

Early last year, Jakarta put in place export restrictions aimed at forcing mining firms to develop smelting and processing facilities so that Indonesia could refine all of its raw ores and concentrates.

Most of the six new nickel smelters due to be finished in 2015 are located in Sulawesi, Coal and Minerals Director General Sukhyar told reporters late on Tuesday. They involve a combined investment of $920 million and will have capacity to produce 6,000 tonnes of refined nickel a year plus 66,000 tonnes of ferro nickel and 50,000 tonnes of nickel pig iron.

Another five nickel smelters set for completion in 2016 are all in Sulawesi, Indonesia’s main nickel ore region, and will cost about $468 million in total, Sukhyar added.

Sukhyar commented:

We estimate that if all these nickel smelters are completed, in 2018 we will be able to process 30 million tonnes of nickel ore – 50 percent of our nickel ore exports in 2013.

The mining law is not only aimed at processing ore, but its big vision is to develop our industry downstream

Click here to read the full Reuters report.