Mines/Indonesia

Weda Bay mine

Weda Bay mine, Indonesia. Producing, open pit, mining nickel.

Why Weda Bay is famous

Indonesian laterite nickel mine. PT Weda Bay Nickel commissioned a ferronickel smelter in Central Halmahera in 2020 with 300,000 t a year capacity. PT Weda Bay Nickel commissioned a smelter in Central Halmahera, North Maluku, in 2020 with capacity for 300,000 t a year of ferronickel. USGS says the Weda Bay industrial zone was expected to employ up to 30,000 workers.1,2,3

Story cards

Timeline

  1. January 2020Indonesia bans nickel ore exports4

What kind of deposit

Nickel laterite

Weda Bay today

Where nickel is mined todayMining in Indonesia

Where next

Mines

ExamplesSorowakoIndonesian nickel: PT Vale's Sorowako makes matte, Weda Bay runs a ferronickel smelter.1

Events

ExamplesIndonesia bans nickel ore exportsWeda Bay commissioned a ferronickel smelter in 2020 with 300,000 t a year capacity.1

Deposit types

An example ofNickel lateriteWeda Bay belongs to the nickel laterite family of deposits.5

Sources

  1. Minerals Yearbook 2020-21, volume III: The Mineral Industry of Indonesia US Geological Survey
  2. data/minerals/operations.csv Prospector Trails (internal)
  3. 2020-21 Minerals Yearbook, Indonesia (advance release) US Geological Survey
  4. The Mineral Industry of Indonesia in 2020-2021 US Geological Survey
  5. Mineral Deposit Models (Bulletin 1693, Cox and Singer, eds., 1986) US Geological Survey

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Pictures: Chiquicamata Mine, Chile, NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Space Systems, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (Public domain (NASA media, no copyright)); Escondida Mine, Chile, NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (Public domain (NASA media, no copyright)); Salar de Atacama, Chile, NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Space Systems, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (Public domain (NASA media, no copyright)).