Overview
Stage | Production |
Mine Type | Open Pit |
Commodities |
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Mining Method |
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Production Start | ...  |
Mine Life | 2044 |
The Weda Bay is the world's largest nickel mine, operating since 2019. In Q3 2023, the Weda Bay mine continued its ramp-up.
PT Weda Bay Nickel produces, firstly nickel ore, and secondly, nickel ferroalloy, using a pyrometallurgical process.
The Sonic Bay hydro-metallurgical project plant would be built at the Weda Bay Industrial Parkand,intended to produce battery-grade nickel and cobalt intermediate products (60kt nickel & 6kt cobalt per year), using laterite ores extracted from the Weda Bay mine and is expected to begin production in 2026. The project is still in the feasibility study phase and the final investment decision must be made in H1 2024. |
Source:
p. 10,61,451
Eramet owns a 43% interest in Strand Minerals Pte Ltd, the holding which owns 90% of PT Weda Bay Nickel and is booked in the Group’s consolidated financial statements under the equity method. An off-take agreement for nickel ferroalloys production (NPI) is in place with Tsingshan, with Eramet holding a 43% interest, and Tsingshan 57%.
The Eramet Group holds an indirect shareholding of 38.7% in Pt Weda Bay Nickel, while Tsingshan holds 51.3% and the Indonesian state holds 10% through PT ANTAM.
Contractors
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Summary:
Weda Bay Ni rich laterites developed on dunite and harzburgite.
The Weda Bay laterite profile, developed during the Cenozoic, is bout 10 m thick, of which 8 m is mineralised with grades in excess of 1% Ni. The profile displays the general layered characteristics of tropical laterites elsewhere. However, the ferricrete capping common to many tropical laterites has been removed by erosion leaving only relict ironstone cobbles and, more commonly, small pisolites that are incorporated into the upper part of the profile (Cock and Lynch, 1999).
Below the overburden horizon, a limonite occurs with > 55% Fe2O3 and no relics with the pristine textures of the ultrabasic rocks still in place. A certain amount of recognizable grains (quartz, altered serpentine clasts, manganese oxides) are visible within a matrix, brown red in colour, dominated by iron oxy-hydroxides. At the basis of this horizon, a transition zone (ferruginous saprolite) is found, and is characterized by more abundant clasts of saprolite within the fine grained goethite matrix (ferruginous saprolite, 25 to 50% Fe2O3 (Cock and Lynch, 1999).
Below the ferruginous saprolite, a saprolite horizon (hydrous Mg silicate zone) is characterized by a non-ferruginous texture (< 15% Fe2O3), is green-brown in colour and may be rather soft. The lower saprolite horizon contains fresher green serpentinite and clasts of bedrock.
Summary:
The mining operation is in open-pit mines.
During mining, on the basis of the mining plan defined in agreement with the supervisory authorities, the run-of-mine volumes extracted are separated according to their future use. Firstly, the topsoil is stored separately in the immediate vicinity of the pits, in order to be reused to rehabilitate and revegetate the mine after exploitation. Then the waste which has no industrial use, is stored in waste dumps which are rehabilitated once completed.
The three Rokbak RA40 haulers entered Weda Bay in February 2022.
Required to move around 450 tonnes of biomass and quarry materials in a single day. The haulers are tasked with removing overburden and providing mine development. Every full-capacity payload sees each RA40 transport overburden two-kilometres to a project access road and biomass dump for disposal.
Source:
Summary:

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Reserves at January 1, 2023:
Ore reserves are defined at a cut-off grade of 0.8% Ni for ore used by pyrometallurgical plants and 0.7% Ni for ore used by hydrometallurgical plants.
Mineral resources: the cut-off grades applied are 0.7% Ni for limonites and 0.8% Ni for saprolites.
Category | OreType | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
Proven
|
Saprolite
|
139.1 M dmt
|
Nickel
|
1.37 %
|
1,905 kt
|
Proven
|
Limonite
|
55.2 M dmt
|
Nickel
|
1.13 %
|
623 kt
|
Probable
|
Saprolite
|
165.1 M dmt
|
Nickel
|
1.33 %
|
2,195 kt
|
Probable
|
Limonite
|
80.9 M dmt
|
Nickel
|
1.06 %
|
857 kt
|
Proven & Probable
|
Saprolite
|
304.2 M dmt
|
Nickel
|
1.35 %
|
4,101 kt
|
Proven & Probable
|
Limonite
|
136 M dmt
|
Nickel
|
1.09 %
|
1,481 kt
|
Proven & Probable
|
Total
|
440.2 M dmt
|
Nickel
|
1.27 %
|
5,581 kt
|
Measured
|
Saprolite
|
167.6 M dmt
|
Nickel
|
1.39 %
|
2,330 kt
|
Measured
|
Limonite
|
62.9 M dmt
|
Nickel
|
1.15 %
|
723 kt
|
Indicated
|
Saprolite
|
201.3 M dmt
|
Nickel
|
1.34 %
|
2,697 kt
|
Indicated
|
Limonite
|
94.7 M dmt
|
Nickel
|
1.08 %
|
1,022 kt
|
Inferred
|
Saprolite
|
430.4 M dmt
|
Nickel
|
1.42 %
|
6,111 kt
|
Inferred
|
Limonite
|
209.1 M dmt
|
Nickel
|
1.1 %
|
2,299 kt
|
Total Resource
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Saprolite
|
799.3 M dmt
|
Nickel
|
1.39 %
|
11,138 kt
|
Total Resource
|
Limonite
|
366.7 M dmt
|
Nickel
|
1.1 %
|
4,044 kt
|
Total Resource
|
Total
|
1,166 M dmt
|
Nickel
|
1.3 %
|
15,182 kt
|
Financials:
| Units | 2022 | 2021 |
Operating Income
|
M EUR
| ......  | ......  |
After-tax Income
|
M EUR
| ......  | ......  |
EBITDA
|
M EUR
| ......  | ......  |
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HME Type | Model | Size | Quantity | Leased or Contractor | Ref. Date |
Excavator
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Dec 31, 2021
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Excavator
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Dec 31, 2021
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Excavator
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Dec 31, 2021
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Excavator
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.......................
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Dec 31, 2021
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Truck (haul)
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.......................
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38 t
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.......................
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May 1, 2023
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Truck (haul)
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.......................
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24 cu. m
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Dec 31, 2021
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Truck (haul)
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.......................
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33.6 cu. m
|
.......................
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Dec 31, 2021
|
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