Xstrata hopeful for S Pacific nickel project
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
NOUMEA, Nov 22 (AFP): Swiss miner Xstrata is on schedule to launch its Koniambo nickel plant in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia in mid-2012, completing the project within budget, press reports said Monday.
The project northeast of Australia is being undertaken in an area of New Caledonia's main island administered by the indigenous Kanak people, who have injected 167 million dollars via a company, SMSP.
Shaun Usmar, financial director of Xstrata-Nickel, praised the progress made so far on the plant, which will have a capacity of 60,000 tonnnes annually.
"It's on schedule. We expect to put the first ore into the furnace in mid-2012," he told the newspaper Nouvelles Caledoniennes.
He added that the project was two-thirds of the way to completion and had absorbed 2.2 billion dollars of its total 3.8 billion dollar price tag.
New Caledonia is home to vast quantities of nickel, an essential ingredient in making stainless steel, and the project is seen as part of a process of giving greater economic control to the indigenous people.
Separately, Usmar told the reporter the project was crucial to the development of Xstrata, which had previously relied on acquiring existing projects for growth.
Following the launch of the plant, the Kanak-owned company will receive 12 per cent of dividends, with the proportion gradually rising as SMSP pays off a loan taken from Xstrata to provide its share of the finance.
After 25 years, SMSP will have a 51-per cent controlling stake in the project.
The project northeast of Australia is being undertaken in an area of New Caledonia's main island administered by the indigenous Kanak people, who have injected 167 million dollars via a company, SMSP.
Shaun Usmar, financial director of Xstrata-Nickel, praised the progress made so far on the plant, which will have a capacity of 60,000 tonnnes annually.
"It's on schedule. We expect to put the first ore into the furnace in mid-2012," he told the newspaper Nouvelles Caledoniennes.
He added that the project was two-thirds of the way to completion and had absorbed 2.2 billion dollars of its total 3.8 billion dollar price tag.
New Caledonia is home to vast quantities of nickel, an essential ingredient in making stainless steel, and the project is seen as part of a process of giving greater economic control to the indigenous people.
Separately, Usmar told the reporter the project was crucial to the development of Xstrata, which had previously relied on acquiring existing projects for growth.
Following the launch of the plant, the Kanak-owned company will receive 12 per cent of dividends, with the proportion gradually rising as SMSP pays off a loan taken from Xstrata to provide its share of the finance.
After 25 years, SMSP will have a 51-per cent controlling stake in the project.