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Indonesia

Weda Bay Mine

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Weda Bay Mine

Location: 55 Km SE from Sofifi, Indonesia

Regional Office:

Sopo Del Office Tower A, Fl. 21 Jl. Mega Kuningan Barat III, Lot 10.1-6 Mega Kuningan Area
Jakarta
Indonesia
12950

Contacts:

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Categories

Summary

Mine TypeOpen Pit
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Nickel
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
Production Start... Lock
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotWeda Bay Nickel is the world's largest nickel mine: the project became operational in 2019, featuring four RKEF (Rotary Kiln Electrical Furnace) lines.

After conducting an in-depth assessment, in June 2024, Eramet and BASF decided against investing in their joint project to develop and build a nickel-cobalt-refining plant (HPAL (High Pressure Acid Leach)) at Weda Bay in Indonesia. However, Eramet continues to study opportunities to participate in the value chain of nickel batteries for electric vehicles in Indonesia to take advantage of the significant resources of the Weda Bay mine, suitable for this type of production. The Group is also studying opportunities to explore and develop other nickel resources.

In Indonesia, mining operations were severely constrained over the year by the mining permit (RKAB) granted, which limited production and sales for 2024 and the next two years to 32 Mvmt (including 3 Mvmt of internal sales to PT WBN's NPI plant.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Eramet Group 43 % Indirect
Tsingshan Holding Group Co. 57 % Indirect
PT Weda Bay Nickel (operator) 100 % Direct
Eramet owns a 43% interest in Strand Minerals Pte Ltd, the holding which owns 90% of PT Weda Bay Nickel and is booked in the Group’s consolidated financial statements under the equity method. An off-take agreement for nickel ferroalloys production (NPI) is in place with Tsingshan, with Eramet holding a 43% interest, and Tsingshan 57%.

The Eramet Group holds an indirect shareholding of 38.7% in Pt Weda Bay Nickel, while Tsingshan holds 51.3% and the Indonesian state holds 10% through PT ANTAM.

Contractors

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SourceSource

Deposit type

  • Laterite

Summary:

Weda Bay Ni rich laterites developed on dunite and harzburgite.

The Weda Bay laterite profile, developed during the Cenozoic, is bout 10 m thick, of which 8 m is mineralised with grades in excess of 1% Ni. The profile displays the general layered characteristics of tropical laterites elsewhere. However, the ferricrete capping common to many tropical laterites has been removed by erosion leaving only relict ironstone cobbles and, more commonly, small pisolites that are incorporated into the upper part of the profile (Cock and Lynch, 1999).

Below the overburden horizon, a limonite occurs with > 55% Fe2O3 and no relics with the pristine textures of the ultrabasic rocks still in place. A certain amount of recognizable grains (quartz, altered serpentine clasts, manganese oxides) are visible within a matrix, brown red in colour, dominated by iron oxy-hydroxides. At the basis of this horizon, a transition zone (ferruginous saprolite) is found, and is characterized by more abundant clasts of saprolite within the fine grained goethite matrix (ferruginous saprolite, 25 to 50% Fe2O3 (Cock and Lynch, 1999).

Below the ferruginous saprolite, a saprolite horizon (hydrous Mg silicate zone) is characterized by a non-ferruginous texture (< 15% Fe2O3), is green-brown in colour and may be rather soft. The lower saprolite horizon contains fresher green serpentinite and clasts of bedrock.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Milling equipment has not been reported.

Processing

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Commodity Production

The Weda Bay mine is focused on producing nickel ore on the one hand, and ferronickel (nickel ferroalloy) on the other.
CommodityProductUnits202520242023202220212020
Nickel Ore kwmt  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Nickel Metal in alloy kt  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
^ Guidance / Forecast.

Operational metrics

Metrics2022
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Production Costs

Commodity production costs have not been reported.

Mine Financials

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Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
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Workforce

EmployeesYear
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Aerial view:

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