Russia's Solway Industries to invest $3 billion in Indonesian nickel plant

JAKARTA, INDONESIA: Russia's Solway Industries will be investing $3 billion in Indonesia's North Maluku region to build a nickel smelting plant with a capacity of 150,000 tons per year, local media reported Tuesday.

The project is expected to be carried out during the first semester of the year, said the Investment Coordination Board chief Gita Wirjawan, the Jakarta Globe reported.

Specifically, the plant will be constructed in Halmahera, North Maluku, where, according to Solway, 114 million tons of high-quality nickel core exist.

Indonesia's Economic Coordinating Minister Hatta Rajasa explained that the government has passed a new mining and coal law that requires miners to process their minerals before its exportation by 2014. Te law would boost the value in the country's natural resource exports.

While Russia currently buys nickel ore from Indonesia, Hatta noted that it would have to be processed here before its exportation, adding that Solway's commitment was in line with the government's new requirements.

In 2010, Indonesia's raw material exports (excluding oil and gas), such as palm oil, coal, minerals, and metals, reached $14.5 billion.

(BNO NEWS )