Indonesia-focused Australian producer Nickel Industries has completed the acquisition of a 51pc stake in the Siduarsi nickel-cobalt project in West Papua, the company announced on Monday.
The deal follows an initial agreement signed in September 2021 with Iriana Mutiara Mining, which gave Nickel Industries the right to ultimately acquire 100pc in the project subject to the meeting of certain conditions. As a next step, Nickel Industries will be able to increase its interest to 82.5pc if a feasibility study for the project to move into production is approved by the Indonesian Mines Department.
The Siduarsi deposit spans 16,470 hectares (ha), with an estimated 52mn dry metric tonnes of mineral resources at 1.1pc nickel and 0.1pc cobalt within an area of 1,614ha.
Initial sample testing of the deposit has proven that its limonite and saprolite ores are suitable, respectively, for high-pressure acid leaching (HPAL) and rotary kiln electric furnace (RKEF) operations, Nickel Industries said.
"Whilst our initial focus will be on the direct shipping of limonite ore to the Weda Bay Industrial Park (IWIP), initial metallurgical test work has demonstrated the ore to be very amenable to HPAL processing," the company's managing director Justin Werner said.
This suggested that the ores planned for nickel pig iron production at Weda Bay could be redirected to HPAL processing to produce mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), and possibly nickel sulphate and cathode.
Nickel Industries already has interests in several nickel projects in Indonesia. The company has an 80pc stake in the Hengjaya, Ranger, Oracle and Angel projects, which produce NPI and matte through the RKEF process, and has a 10pc stake in the Huayue Nickel Cobalt HPAL project, which produces MHP. It also holds 44pc in the Excelsior Nickel Cobalt HPAL project, which produces MHP, nickel sulphate and nickel cathode.
