JAKARTA, Sept 24, 2007 (Asia In Focus via COMTEX) — PT WEDA BAY NICKEL, a company controlled by France’s mining company ERAMET SA will set aside up to US$2 billion to exploit nickel mines in Teluk Weda, Halmahera, North Maluku. Currently Weda Bay is conducting feasibility study expected to be completed in 2009, Coal and Geothermal Director General Simon Felix Sembiring said last weekend.

* Construction could start after the completion of the feasibility study and the production is expected to start in 2011, Sembiring said.

* Earlier Eramet Executive Vice President Francois Gabrie Sauvage said the Teluk Weda mines could produce up to 60,000 tons of nickel and 4,000 tons of cobalt a year.

PT Weda Bay Nickel, controlled by France’s Eramet, to invest US$2 bln in N Maluku mines
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source: tradingmarkets.com