REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PALU - The nickel smelter in Morowali District, Central Sulawesi Province, will begin operation by 2015, with a production capacity of 300 thousand tons of nickel per year.
"The first stage of construction is 70 percent complete. We hope that the entire construction stages will be finished and the smelter can be operated by 2015," head of Central Sulawesi's Energy and Mineral Resources office Bambang Sunaryo said on Monday.
The smelter, which is being built by PT Bintang Delapan Minerals, requires an investment of around 636 million USD.
Meanwhile, the investment for the second stage is estimated to reach to 500 million USD, with a production capacity of 600 thousand tons per year. Therefore, once the smelter is hundred percent operational, nickel production will reach to 900 thousand tons per year.
According to Bambang, the presence of the nickel smelter to process the ores will facilitate mining enterprises in Morowali and its vicinity.
"A research shows that by processing the metal ores into nickel, the profits in Indonesia may reach to 17 times higher than only exporting the ores," Bambang said, adding that the smelter combines a scheme of upstream to downstream processing management.
"There will be a nickel industry area in Morowali," he said.
The downstream industry for nickel will reduce the amount of nickel to be exported.
"The export of nickel will no longer be dominant. It will be advantageous for us," Bambang added.
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