QNI to examine nickel, cobalt plants

QNI to examine nickel, cobalt plants

SYDNEY (Reuter): QNI Ltd said its South Africa's Gencor Ltd and Indonesia's state-owned PT Aneka Tambang were looking at developing an integrated nickel and cobalt processing facility in Indonesia and Australia.

QNI Managing Director Wyn Davies said in a statement the study would be funded equally by QNI and Gencor and was expected to take nine months.

He said the strategic alliance between the three parties would draw on their collective strengths, including:

* Aneka Tambang's mining and operating experience and ownership of lateritic deposits in Indonesia,

* Gencor's developing technology for nickel processing and operating experience in Indonesia through its Billiton subsidiaries, and,

* QNI's unique ammonia leach technology developed at its Yabulu Refinery in Australia.

Gencor has developed a technique for using bacteria to process usually difficult ore bodies containing gold, copper and nickel.

The scoping study would look at:

* developing a number of underdeveloped lateritic nickel ore deposits in Indonesia,

* constructing a nickel smelter in Indonesia using Gencor technology,

* constructing an ammonia leach plant in Indonesia to process ore to carbonate stage, and,

* expanding the product section of the Yabulu Refinery in Australia to take the additional carbonate feed.

The scoping study would allow the three companies to decide on plans to proceed with a pre-feasibility study on the joint project.