Sorowako mine

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Sorowako Mine
Soroako Mine
Location
Sulawesi location map plain.svg
Schlaegel und Eisen nach DIN 21800.svg
Sorowako Mine
Soroako Mine
Province Sulawesi
Country Indonesia
Coordinates 2°32′45″S121°21′9″E / 2.54583°S 121.35250°E / -2.54583; 121.35250
Production
Products Nickel
Type Private company
Owner
Company Vale Indonesia

The Sorowako mine is a large mine in the east of Indonesia in the Verbeek Mountains of Sulawesi (the Celebes). [1] It lies just south of Lake Matano. As of 2023, Sorowako is one of the largest nickel mines in the world [2] with nickel reserve of an estimated 109.4 million tonnes of ore grading 1.79% nickel. [3] The 109.4 million tonnes of ore contains 1.95 million tonnes of nickel metal. [3]

Contents

History

Nickel was first discovered at Sorowako in 1901 by the Dutch missionary, ethnographer, and amateur mineralogist, Albert Kruyt. [4] In 1915, the Dutch mining engineer Eduard C. Abendanon confirmed that report. [5] [6] In 1934, H. R.‘Flat’ Elves, an Inco geologist, dug test pits and did a feasibility study. [5] [6]

In 1968, Inco, as PT Inco, received the mining concession in Sorowako [6] and began mapping and exploratory analysis. [7] In 1977, they opened a smelter and the following year they began commercial production in April 1978. [7] [8]

In 2006 when Vale S.A. purchased Inco, [9] PT Inco (Indonesian Inco) was reorganized with changed percentages of ownership and became PT Vale (Vale Indonesia), a subsidiary of Vale S.A. [6]

Mine

The mine is an open pit surface mine. [1] The ore is disseminated nickel as fine-grained manganese-nickel silicates in a smectite complex in a laterite. [10] [11] The major nickel mineral is garnierite. [10]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Sorowako Mine (PT International Nickel mine; Soroaka Mine; Soroako Mine), Soroako (Sorowako), South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia". MinDat. Archived from the original on 4 November 2022.
  2. "The world's ten largest nickel mines". Mining Technology. 21 July 2023. Archived from the original on 14 November 2023.
  3. 1 2 "Sorowako mine". Infomine. 2012. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  4. Arif, Irwandy (2018). Nikel Indonesia (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Gramedia Pustaka Utama. p. 35. ISBN   978-602-06-1935-4.
  5. 1 2 Arif 2018
  6. 1 2 3 4 Bobbette, Adam (18 August 2022). "In Sorowako". London Review of Books. Vol. 44, no. 16. Archived from the original on 24 August 2022.
  7. 1 2 "Karonsi'e Dongi people and Vale mine in Sorowako, Sulawesi, Indonesia". Global Atlas of Environmental Justice (EJAtlas). 20 March 2019. Archived from the original on 29 May 2023.
  8. "PT International Nickel Indonesia Tbk 2007 Annual Report". Vale. Archived from the original on 14 November 2023.
  9. Denison, Daniel R.; et al. (2012). Leading Culture Change in Global Organizations: Aligning Culture and Strategy. San Francisco, California: Jossey-Bass (Wiley). p.  141. ISBN   978-1-118-23510-2.
  10. 1 2 Sufriadin, Arifudin Idrus; et al. (2011). "Thermal and Infrared Studies of Garnierite from the Soroako Nickeliferous Laterite Deposit, Sulawesi, Indonesia" (PDF). Indonesian Journal of Geology. 7 (2): 77–85.
  11. Ilyas, Asran; Kashiwaya, Koki; Koike, Katsuaki (2016). "Ni grade distribution in laterite characterized from geostatistics, topography and the paleo-groundwater system in Sorowako, Indonesia". Journal of Geochemical Exploration. 165: 174–188. doi:10.1016/j.gexplo.2016.03.002.