Australia's Nickel Mines to acquire a stake in an Indonesian nickel company to double nickel production within two years

SMM: Australian nickel miner Nickel Mines said on Friday that it would buy Indonesian nickel company PT Angel Nickel Industry (ANI), for $490 million and said it would strive to double nickel production within two years.

The Australian miner will acquire the stake from a subsidiary of Castle Peak Group (Tsingshan Group), the world's largest stainless steel producer, and will build four rotary kiln furnace production lines at (IWIP), Indonesia's Vedabe industrial park on the island of Hama Hera in Indonesia's North Maluku province.

Nickel Mines, which has a 70 per cent stake, said it would receive about 25200 tonnes of nickel pig iron a year, with a total capacity of 36000 tonnes.

Nickel Mines shares jumped 5.8 per cent in early trading to a record high of A $0.815.

Nickel Mines said most of the value of the deal would be done in the form of cash, debt and equity financing.

After Indonesia stopped exporting unprocessed nickel ore, the government has made promoting the development of domestic nickel processing a "national priority", and the Weidabe Industrial Park is one of them.