Maluku Tipped for $4.6b Ore Investment
Weda Bay Minerals, a consortium of Japanese and French companies, and state nickel and gold miner PT Aneka Tambang (Antam) are expected to invest $4.6 billion to develop a nickel mine in Weda Bay in Halmahera Island, North Maluku.
Alwin Syah Lubis, Antam’s president director, said Paris-based Eramet, the operator of the world’s biggest ferronickel plant, and Mitsubishi were joining the project.
Construction is expected to begin early next year.
Speaking separately, Muhammad Lutfi, the chairman of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), said the project was expected to help boost foreign direct investment in the oil, gas and mining sector this year to $7 billion.The consortium, Lutfi said, is in the final stages of closing the financing although he disclosed few details beyond saying the Japan Bank for International Corporation will be involved in financing part of the investment.
‘We sincerely hope Antam will be made the operator of the project’
Alwin Syah Lubis,
Antam president director
Eramet said in 2007 that it would spend about $2 billion to begin mining at Weda Bay, which is scheduled to start actual production by the end of 2012 or early in 2013. In early February, the French company, which owns 90 percent of Weda Bay Minerals through Strand Minerals (Indonesia), sold 33 percent of Strand to Mitsubishi for $145 million.
An Eramet study has forecast output of 60,000 metric tons of nickel a year from an ore body of more than 500 million tons.
Antam’s Lubis said a feasibility study on the project was scheduled for completion by early 2010.
“We sincerely hope Antam will be made the operator of the project,” Lubis said, adding that the anticipated $4.6 billion investment could also include a seaport, nickel smelter and refinery.
Despite growing foreign direct investment commitments expected to be secured this year, actual investment from both foreign and domestic sources will probably miss the government’s target, Lutfi acknowledged.
The BKPM has slashed its growth forecast for both foreign and local investment this year to 9 percent, down from between 10.7 percent and 11.2 percent, after inflows for April were lower than expected as a result of the global financial crisis. FDI fell by 4.1 percent in April this year, the agency said, to $1.4 billion from $1.46 billion during the same period last year.
Alwin Syah Lubis, Antam’s president director, said Paris-based Eramet, the operator of the world’s biggest ferronickel plant, and Mitsubishi were joining the project.
Construction is expected to begin early next year.
Speaking separately, Muhammad Lutfi, the chairman of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), said the project was expected to help boost foreign direct investment in the oil, gas and mining sector this year to $7 billion.The consortium, Lutfi said, is in the final stages of closing the financing although he disclosed few details beyond saying the Japan Bank for International Corporation will be involved in financing part of the investment.
‘We sincerely hope Antam will be made the operator of the project’
Alwin Syah Lubis,
Antam president director
Eramet said in 2007 that it would spend about $2 billion to begin mining at Weda Bay, which is scheduled to start actual production by the end of 2012 or early in 2013. In early February, the French company, which owns 90 percent of Weda Bay Minerals through Strand Minerals (Indonesia), sold 33 percent of Strand to Mitsubishi for $145 million.
An Eramet study has forecast output of 60,000 metric tons of nickel a year from an ore body of more than 500 million tons.
Antam’s Lubis said a feasibility study on the project was scheduled for completion by early 2010.
“We sincerely hope Antam will be made the operator of the project,” Lubis said, adding that the anticipated $4.6 billion investment could also include a seaport, nickel smelter and refinery.
Despite growing foreign direct investment commitments expected to be secured this year, actual investment from both foreign and domestic sources will probably miss the government’s target, Lutfi acknowledged.
The BKPM has slashed its growth forecast for both foreign and local investment this year to 9 percent, down from between 10.7 percent and 11.2 percent, after inflows for April were lower than expected as a result of the global financial crisis. FDI fell by 4.1 percent in April this year, the agency said, to $1.4 billion from $1.46 billion during the same period last year.