0°28′42″N 127°59′01″E / 0.47832°N 127.98363°E The Weda Bay Industrial Park is a nickel mining and industrial park complex in Central Halmahera Regency, North Maluku, Indonesia. The Weda Bay Mine is now among the largest nickel mines in the world.
History
edit
Nickel deposits were discovered in the Weda Bay area in Central Halmahera in 1996, and a joint venture between Canada-based Weda Bay Minerals and Antam (10%) was established in 1997. French mining group Eramet acquired the Canadian stake in 2006, and planned to develop the site, but due to low mineral prices the project was put on hold in 2013. In 2017, China's Tsingshan Group signed an agreement, giving it a 57% stake in Weda Bay Minerals, and giving Tsingshan the responsibility to develop mineral processing while Eramet retained its mining operations. Construction of the industrial park began in April 2018, with mining operations commencing in October 2019 and metallurgical production in April 2020.[1]
As of 2020, four nickel ferroalloy production lines are active in the industrial park, with undergoing development of a cobalt-nickel refining complex.[1] A nickel sulphate plant is also slated for construction in the park.[2]
Workforce
editThe industrial park employed around 11,000 people as of 2020.[3] In early 2022, the park reported that this figure has increased to 28,000 Indonesian and 1,800 foreign workers.[4]
Mine
editThe Weda Mine was opened in October 2019[1] and is now the largest nickel mine in the world,[5] with production from October through December of 2019 of half a million tonnes of nickel ore.[6] It reported sales in 2021 of over 21 Mwt (million wet tonnes) from its mine.[7]
The ore is disseminated nickel as fine-grained manganese-nickel silicates in a laterite soil.[8][9] The nickel is found as garnierite as is associated with the iron minerals limonite, magnitite and goethite, as well as various clay minerals. The complex formed from the lateritic weathering of ultramafic rocks: serpentinite, dunite, and peridotite.[9][10]
The mine is a series of open pits, including the sites at Kao Rahai, Sake River, Sake West, Nuspera and Uni Uni.[8]
References
edit- ^ a b c "Weda Bay Nickel Project, Halmahera Island, Indonesia". NS Energy. Retrieved 15 September 2021.
- ^ "Tsingshan and Eramet's Indonesia Weda Bay nickel project starts production". Reuters. 30 April 2020. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
- ^ "PT IWIP Buka 12.000 Lowongan Kerja, Posisi Apa Saja?". KOMPAS.com (in Indonesian). 28 January 2021. Retrieved 15 September 2021.
- ^ "IWIP Targetkan Bisa Tambah 10.400 Tenaga Kerja di Weda Bay Pada 2022". Kumparan (in Indonesian). 9 June 2022. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
- ^ "Eramet cuts Indonesia nickel ore target on permit delay". Nickel: Nickel news, Nickel price, Nickel Updates. 26 October 2023. Archived from the original on 13 November 2023.
- ^ "Eramet sees 3Mt in nickel ore output this year at Indonesia mine". Glacier RIG Ltd. 20 February 2020. Archived from the original on 14 November 2023.
- ^ "Eramet, a leader in the nickel market". Eramet.
- ^ a b Blancher, Simon B.; Laugier, Odile; Bouchet, Alain (2015). "Geometallurgy: Clay Mineral Characterization on Ni-Laterite: Qemscan Imaging of Alteration Processes". Mineral resources in a sustainable world: Proceedings of the 13th biennial SGA Meeting and the SGA 50th anniversary, Nancy, 24-27 August 2015 (PDF). pp. 1387–1390. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 November 2023.
- ^ a b Farrokhpay, Saeed; Cathelineau, Michel; Blancher, Simon B.; Laugier, Odile; Filippov, Lev (2019). "Characterization of Weda Bay nickel laterite ore from Indonesia" (PDF). Journal of Geochemical Exploration. 196: 270–281. doi:10.1016/j.gexplo.2018.11.002. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 November 2023.
- ^ Van der Ent, A.; Baker, A.J.M.; Van Balgooy, M.M.J.; Tjoa, A. (2013). "Ultramafic nickel laterites in Indonesia (Sulawesi, Halmahera): mining, nickel hyperaccumulators and opportunities for phytomining". Journal of Geochemical Exploration. 128: 72–79.