Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Inco Cancels Sulawesi Nickel Smelter

PT International Nickel Indonesia (Inco) has cancelled plans to build a nickel smelter in Pomalaa, Southeast Sulawesi where it has large nickel mines.

Feasibility studies by a number of independent consultants show that the
project is not feasible commercially, said Jannus T. Siahaan, the chief spokesman of the subsidiary of the Canadian based INCO Limited.

Inco has reported the decision to the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, Siahaan told the newspaper Investor Daily.

The project, proposed to the government by Inco in April, 2008, was to have a processing capacity of 30,000 tons of nickel ore a year.

Earlier a government official said Inco is required to build a smelter in Pomalaa and the smelter has to be operational in 2013.

If the project with an estimated cost of US$2 billion is not feasible, Inco should make it feasible by cutting the cost and reducing the size of the project, Mineral, Coal and Geothermal Director General Bambang Setiawan said.

Source: Trading Markets

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