WIKA gained the trust to implement the project based on administrative, technical, price, qualification and verification evaluations by PT CNI. Jakarta (ANTARA) – PT Ceria Metalindo Indotama (CMI), a subsidiary of PT Ceria Nugraha Indotama (CNI), signed a cooperation contract with PT Wijaya Karya (Persero) Tbk (WIKA) to work on the construction of a nickel smelter in Wolo, Kolaka, Southeast Sulawesi.
The signing was carried out by the President Director of PT CNI Derian Sakmiwata and Director of Operations II WIKA Harum Akhmad Zuhdi and witnessed by the management of both companies in Jakarta, Friday.
WIKA gained the trust to implement the project based on administrative, technical, price, qualification and verification evaluations by PT CNI.
“Hopefully, with the signing of this strategic contract, PT CNI can optimize the potential for nickel in the country and make the upstream and downstream nickel industry a sector that is predicted to be prospective in the next few years,” said Derian.
With the spirit of “Merah dan Putih” (Merah and Putih are the colours of Indonesian National Flag), he continued, nickel commodity will be a hope to boost the growth of the base metal industry, as well as national economic growth.
It is planned that the project [construction], which is located in Wolo, Kolaka, Southeast Sulawesi, will take 36 months of working calendar.
WIKA’s scope of work includes engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, and financing.
“WIKA positively welcomes the great trust given by PT Ceria Nugraha Indotama. Insha Allah [May God be Willing], this project can be completed on time with satisfactory quality and can be a leverage point for the revival of the mineral-based industry in the country and in the world,” said the President Director of WIKA Agung Budi Waskito.
The construction of the ferronickel plant will consist of two production lines, production line 3 and 4 (2 × 72 MVA) with a contract value of IDR 2.8 trillion and USD 180 million.
Each lines is supported by main production facilities, namely a rotary dryer with a capacity of 196 tons / hour (wet base), a rotary kiln with a capacity of 178 tons / hour (wet base), an electric furnace with a capacity of 72 MVA and other supporting equipment with a target of project completion in 2023. and able to achieve a production capacity of 27,800 tonnes Ni / year (ferronickel 22 percent Ni).
Apart from CMI, a subsidiary of CNI which also signed (the contract) with WIKA was PT Ceria Kobalt Indotama (CKI).
The collaboration between the two focuses on the EPC synergy of the nickel laterite hydrometallurgy project and the power plant with an estimated contract value of US $ 1.1 billion.
The construction project for cobalt processing and refining facilities using HPAL technology, which is the core of the collaboration with CMI-WIKA, is projected to have an annual production capacity of 100,000 tons / year of mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) (40 percent Ni and 4 percent Co in MHP) and 158,000 tonnes / year of chromium concentrate.
The main production facilities at the factory are the ore preparation facility and hydrometallurgical plant with a capacity of 3.6 million tons / year (dry base), a limestone treatment plant with a capacity of 770 thousand tons / year (wet base), a sulfuric acid plant with a capacity of 550 thousand tons / year, residue storage facilities with a capacity of 970 thousand tons of tailings and other supporting equipment.
Latest technology
Agung Budi conveyed that the nickel processing and refining plant construction project in its future operation will use a proven rotary kiln-electric furnace route to process nickel ore with the grade of 1.59 percent Ni into ferronickel with the grade of 22 percent.
It was stated, in contrast to nickel factories in Indonesia in general, which use circular type electric furnaces, this factory uses a rectangular type electric furnace which has advantages, among others, first, it has a more efficient energy consumption / ton or kWh / ton because it uses an electrode design that is submerged.
Second, it has a longer service life due to the excellent flexibility of the rectangular structure overcoming the furnace expansion problem.
Third, it has a better Ni recovery rate, through the slag settling section which is extended by the rectangular dimension.
Meanwhile, for the construction project of cobalt processing and refining facilities, which is the core of the collaboration with CKI-WIKA, the technology to be used is the high pressure acid leaching (HPAL) technology that is proven to process limonite nickel ore with the grade of 1.25 percent Co and 0.13 percent of Ni to become Mixed Hydroxide Precipitate, with the content of 40 thousand tons of nickel / year and 4 thousand tons of cobalt / year as the raw material for electric vehicle battery components.
The by product, which has economic value from this HPAL plant, is chromium concentrate amounting to 158 thousand tons / year.
HPAL technology is able to utilize low grade nickel ore (limonite) to extract valuable minerals such as cobalt and nickel economically, due to its low energy consumption, thus minimizing operational costs (Opex) and having high nickel and cobalt recovery rates of up to 90 percent .
The two projects signed this Friday, he said, increasingly add WIKA’s portfolio which previously had successfully completed the RKEF East Halmahera ferronickel plant; ore preparation line 4 MOP-PP RKEF FeNi Pomalaa, Southeast Sulawesi; RKEF non crucible furnace MOP-PP Pomalaa, Southeast Sulawesi; refining system MOP PP RKEF FeNi 1 Pomalaa, Southeast Sulawesi; and chemical grade alumina in Tayan, West Kalimantan.
Source: https://m.antaranews.com/berita/1864344/sinergi-wika-cni-percepat-pembangunan-smelter-feronikel
