[ferro-alloys.com]French mining and metals group Eramet said on Thursday that it aimed to mine more than 3 million tonnes of nickel ore this year in Indonesia through its Weda Bay project.

Eramet started mining nickel ore in late 2019 at the site on the island of Halmahera, extracting 500,000 tonnes by year-end, it said during a presentation of its annual results.

It reiterated that production of processed nickel pig iron (NPI) at a smelter being built by joint venture partner Tsingshan Holding Group was expected to start in the first half of this year.

The initial 500,000 tonnes of ore would go to the new Weda Bay smelter, but Eramet would also supply other plants on Halmahera from the volume of ore it is targeting this year, it said.

Eramet and Tsingshan, a Chinese steelmaker, are targeting annual NPI production of 30,000 tonnes per year from their joint venture, and the French group said 80% of capacity was expected to be reached by the end of this year.

For nickel ore, the firms are targeting 6 million tonnes per year in mined output.

Nickel is mainly used in making stainless steel but is increasingly used in batteries as demand for electric vehicles develops.

The Indonesian project adds a second major nickel mining operation for Eramet in addition to its New Caledonian mines.

Its New Caledonian unit SLN has suffered years of losses due to high costs, but Eramet said the unit became cash flow positive in the second half of 2019, helped by new working practices and a ramp-up in exports of lower-grade nickel ore.

Eramet swung to a net loss in 2019, citing the impact of lower manganese prices and one-off charges.

It said it expected core profit to fall again in 2020 and announced the freezing of a lithium project in Argentina and a scaling back of a manganese mine expansion in Gabon.

Eramet’ shares fell 20% in opening trade on Thursday and were down around 13% by early afternoon.

(Mining.com)

• [Editor:王可]