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Indonesia

PTVI (Sorowako) Mine

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PTVI (Sorowako) Mine

Location: 140 km NE from Palopo, Indonesia

Address:


Sorowako
Indonesia
92984

Contacts:

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Summary

Mine TypeOpen Pit
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Nickel
  • Cobalt
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
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SnapshotPTVI Operations are comprised of the Sorowako operation and the Pomalaa, Bahodopi and Tanamalia projects. Sorowako is engages in mining and value-added smelting activities in the production of nickel matte. Bahodopi and Pomalaa projects are in the construction phase and Tanamalia project is at exploration stage.

In 2023, PT Vale Indonesia Tbk launched construction of a low-carbon nickel mining and processing project in Morowali and signed a Definitive Cooperation Agreement to build an HPAL plant in Malili, which will process Sorowako limonite ore into MHP for EV batteries.

2024 has been a pivotal year for the development of the High Pressure Acid Leaching (HPAL) Sambalagi project. PT Vale signed an agreement with GEM Co., Ltd, on November 10, 2024, to establish an HPAL facility, a major step forward as this facility is designed to achieve net-zero emissions from day one.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Manara Minerals Investment Co. 3.38 % Indirect
Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd 11.48 % Indirect
Vale S.A. 30.5 % Indirect
PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Persero) 34 % Indirect
PT Vale Indonesia Tbk (operator) 100 % Direct
Vale S.A. holds a 30.5% interest in PT Vale Indonesia Tbk (PTVI) through its 90% ownership in VBM.

The other shareholders of PTVI are: PT Mineral Industri Indonesia (Persero) (MIND ID) with 34%, public float with 20.64%, Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. (Sumitomo) with 11.48%, and Manara Minerals with 3.38% (through its 10% ownership in VBM).

Contractors

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SourceSource

Deposit type

  • Laterite
  • Breccia pipe / Stockwork

Summary:

Nickel laterite deposits in the Sorowako and Petea area are generally classified into two main types, West Block and East Block types, depending upon the nature of bedrock, the level of serpentinisation, ease of mining, size of boulders, degree of fracturing of the bedrock, optimum screen fraction that carries nickel grades, and the silica-to-magnesia ratios in the mineralisation.

West Block type deposits
These deposits are developed over a relatively unserpentinised peridotite bedrock; commercially mineable grades are confined to the -1" fines fraction; and silica to magnesia ratios are high (2.2 to 2.6 range).

West Block type deposits are categorized into Types 1, 2 and 3, depending on the degree of fracturing in the bedrock and the size of the resulting boulders. Type 1 deposits are the most difficult to mine due to weak fracturing of the bedrock and the resulting large size of the boulders. Type 2 and Type 3 deposits are successively easier to mine and are formed over more fractured bedrock resulting in boulders within the mineralisation profile that mining equipment can handle.

Optimum nickel grades in all West Block type deposits are confined to -1" screen fraction. Oversize is generally barren or very low grade. Exceptions exist in breccia mineralisation where siliceous garnierite carries respectable grades in the +1" fraction.

East Block type and Petea deposits
These deposits are developed over bedrock that is much more serpentinised and characterized by generally low silica to magnesia ratios. They are further categorized into three types based on upgrading characteristics of the mineralisation as follows:

18" mineralisation type in which all fractions up to 18" size are mineralisation grading. This is also referred to as "Pure East Type mineralisation".

6" mineralisation type in which only material less than 6" in size is mineralisation grading; oversize rock is low grade and needs to be rejected.

1" mineralisation type in which only -1" material is mineralisation grading and all oversized material is waste. This mineralisation type is further divided into two types depending on the olivine content of the +1-6" size fraction:

Low-olivine -1" mineralisation type in which the olivine content of the +1-6" rock is generally less than 22%. This mineralisation type can be screened at 1" size for maximum nickel upgrading, or screened at 6" size for maximum mineralisation recovery. In either case olivine content is acceptable for the electric furnaces.

High-olivine -1" mineralisation type in which the olivine content of the +1-6" fraction is generally more than 22%. This mineralisation type must be screened at 1" size to ensure that excessive olivine does not enter the electric furnaces.

East Block 6"/18" mineralisation type form an arcuate zone extending from Sumasang in the north to Lamangka South and Fiona-Farah in the south-east. East of this zone, and up to the shore of Lake Matano, the area is underlain largely by -1" high-olivine mineralisation type. East Block -1" low-olivine mineralisation type only forms irregular patches within the 6"/18" mineralisation type and the -1" high-olivine mineralisation type.

In the Mahalona North area, the 6"/18" mineralisation type has numerous small raisin-like zones of the other two East Block mineralisation types.

Petea area was originally classified as -18" mineralisation type but was not supported after reviewing borehole and test pit data. Recent results from mining (screening results) indicate that Petea is generally a - 6" mineralisation type. Petea will continue to be treated as -6" mineralisation. The -1" mineralisation type identified in Petea is treated at -6".

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Heavy Mobile Equipment

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EV - Electric

Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Milling equipment has not been reported.

Processing

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Commodity Production

Ore tonnes mined for 2024 are estimated based on data from January to June. As of July 2024, Vale’s ownership in PTVI decreased from 44.34% to 33.9%, leading to the deconsolidation of PTVI’s production. As a result, mine production is reported only for the period from January to June 2024.
CommodityUnits2024202320222021202020192018201720162015
Nickel kt  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe6872738180
All production numbers are expressed as metal in matte.

Operational metrics

Metrics2024202320222021202020192018201720162015
Daily production capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Ore tonnes mined  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe4,286 kt4,469 kt4,569 kt4,708 kt4,694 kt
Waste  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe43,382,160 wmt41,043,149 wmt35,667,574 wmt
Annual production capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe80,000 t of nickel matte80,000 t of nickel matte80,000 t of nickel matte80,000 t of nickel matte80,000 t of nickel matte

Production Costs

CommodityUnits20242023202220212020201920182017
Cash costs (sold) Nickel USD  ....  Subscribe
Cash costs Nickel USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 7,403 / t   7,110 / t   6,444 / t  

Mine Financials

Units20242023202220212020201920182017
Capital expenditures M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 166.6   103.4   68.5  
Revenue M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 782   776.9   629.3  
Operating Income M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 88.3   84.9  
Gross profit M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 116.5   104   6.6  
Pre-tax Income M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 89.1   82.6   -23  
After-tax Income M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 57.4   60.5   -15.3  
EBITDA M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 232.4   235.7  
Operating Cash Flow M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 138   204.4  

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Apr 28, 2025
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Apr 28, 2025
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Apr 28, 2025
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Workforce

EmployeesYear
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Aerial view:

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