Rio Tinto Consider Funding For Sulawesi Project
Tuesday, 25 November, 2008 | 16:14 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Rio tinto Indonesia a subsidary of the Anglo-Australian mining giant is considering funding plan on its nickel mining contract in Sulawesi in the wake of the global financial crisis.

Omar S Anwar Director of Rio Tinto Indonesia said the initial value of the contract was at US$ 2 billion, and the company is planning to use internal source of fund as well as bank loans to finance the work.

The mining contract according to Omar have earned approvals from the regional administration and the Energy and Mineral Resources Minisitry. Omar hoped that the contract would immediately be brought to the parliament saying, ”if the parliament agree, we would start with the feasibility study for the project.

The company said the feasibilit study would reveal the scale of the project and the actual value of investment needed.

Rio Tinto Indonesia announced its finding of 162 million tonne lateritic nickel resource in South East Sulawesi in May 2008 and possibly further potential resources, which the company said "would provide entry into a new metal in ten years", after examining the area since 2000.

Agoeng Wijaya | Rio Tinto