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Russian Firm Pledges $3 Billion for Maluku Nickel Smelting Plant
Dion Bisara & Camelia Pasandaran | February 15, 2011

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Vikrama
9:23pm Mar 19, 2011

Minister Hatta proudly says he is not giving any incentives to foreign investment.

The important question for Hatta Radjasa would be:

What has the Government done to support the building of smelters in Indonesia in support of exports by local mining companies?

If nothing has been done, how many such smelters have been built by private investment so far?

Well I know the answer. NONE.

Instead of forever waiting for foreigners to come to invest, Indonesian Government should start thinking about how to build our own economy. Suharto build 3 plants under Aneka Tambang. What has current Government done except such big announcements? just announcements...

renzila
10:37am Feb 17, 2011

Hopefully this project will serve and brings more economic growth in Halmahera community, much better compare to Freeport .... By the way Hata rajasa did not mentioned who is the local partner whom according to the law have to posses or holding 10% stake at the project ...Is it The BUMD or .... ???


TheSplodge
7:06am Feb 16, 2011

Yeah ardy, absolutely. Why let foreign companies do the raping and destroying when there are so many Indo companies that can do the same job?

DrDez
6:36am Feb 16, 2011

ardy - did you see the article about logging & mining by Indonesian Companies recently? Only 3% are legal !! At least a forign owned comapny will be legal and may have an environmental conscience - The Pribumi have not - consider Bakrie et al

ardy123
10:41pm Feb 15, 2011

That doesn't sound like a good news for Indonesia... foreign companies continue getting the green light raping the country and destroying the earth. Sigh.

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A unit of Russia’s Solway Industries has committed to invest $3 billion to build a nickel smelting plant in Halmahera, North Maluku, senior officials said on Monday.

Gita Wirjawan, the head of the Investment Coordination Board (BKPM), said Solway Industries plans to construct a nickel smelter with a capacity of 150,000 tons per year.

“[Solway] plans to build the smelter this year. We expect the groundbreaking will take place in the first half of the year,” the BKPM chief told Dow Jones Newswires.

According to the Russian company’s Web site, it holds several exploration concessions in Indonesia. The concession in Halmahera is estimated to contain about 114 million tons of high-quality nickel ore.

Southeast Asia’s biggest economy currently includes three nickel smelters controlled by state-owned company Aneka Tambang. They produce more than 18,000 tons of ferro-nickel, an alloy that contains up to 45 percent nickel, each year.

The country also produces nickel matte, which is more than 75 percent pure nickel, from a smelter operated by Inco, which has an annual capacity of 72,500 tons.

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Rajasa said Solway’s commitment was in line with the country’s bid to increase the value of its natural resource exports.

“Currently, Russia buys nickel ore, but we plan not to export it any more so it should all be processed here,” Hatta said.

The government has passed a new mining and coal law that requires miners to process their minerals prior to export by 2014.

Last year, raw materials such as coal, palm oil, minerals and metals accounted for more than a third of the country’s non-oil and gas exports of Rp 129.7 trillion ($14.5 billion).

Hatta said the project would not receive any fiscal incentives, such as a tax holiday.

“It doesn’t need fiscal incentives. The natural resources themselves are kind of an incentive because you won’t find them anywhere else. We may lift import tax for building the plant, but that’s all,” he said.