Indonesia attracts $1.4 bln in investment for 11 nickel smelters – by Wilda Asmarini (Reuters U.S. – March 11, 2015)

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JAKARTA – (Reuters) – Eleven new nickel smelters are to be built in Indonesia over the next two years at a cost of $1.4 billion, a mining ministry official said, a sign that laws requiring domestic processing of ores are having an impact after initial resistance from the industry.

Early last year, Jakarta put in place export restrictions aimed at forcing mining firms to develop smelting and processing facilities so that Indonesia could refine all of its raw ores and concentrates.

Most of the six new nickel smelters due to be finished in 2015 are located in Sulawesi, Coal and Minerals Director General Sukhyar told reporters late on Tuesday. They involve a combined investment of $920 million and will have capacity to produce 6,000 tonnes of refined nickel a year plus 66,000 tonnes of ferro nickel and 50,000 tonnes of nickel pig iron.

Another five nickel smelters set for completion in 2016 are all in Sulawesi, Indonesia’s main nickel ore region, and will cost about $468 million in total, Sukhyar added.

“We estimate that if all these nickel smelters are completed, in 2018 we will be able to process 30 million tonnes of nickel ore – 50 percent of our nickel ore exports in 2013,” he said, referring to exports before the January 2014 ban.

“The mining law is not only aimed at processing ore, but its big vision is to develop our industry downstream.”

Mining industry executives had balked at the idea of developing downstream industries and building smelters, citing a lack of power and infrastructure in the remote areas where mines are often located.

But despite a slump in global commodity prices and slow demand for metals from top buyer China, the government now seems to be having some success.

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