SEOUL, KOREA - The nickel ores produced from Ambatovy, Madagascar, one of the world's top three nickel mines, have arrived in Korea after seven years of development. Developed jointly by the Korea Resources Corp., Daewoo International, as well as Japan's Sumitomo and Canada's Sherritt International, Ambatovy is a world-class, large tonnage nickel joint venture positioned to be one of the world's biggest lateritic nickel mines.

 

 

Once the mine's capacity utilization goes up to 100 percent by next year from current 60 percent, Korean firms will be able to exercise the rights to ship 30,000 tons of nickel a year. It will contribute to lowering production cost of steel and other industries.

 

According to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy on February 11, the 40 tons of nickel has been shipped to Korea from Ambatovy in Madagascar. The Korean consortium consisting of Samsung C&T, Hyundai Corp., and STX, as well as the Korea Resources Corp. and Daewoo International had taken a 27.5-percent stake in the project in October 2006. The whole 40-ton shipment was sold to POSCO as a raw material to make special alloy steels.

 

The Ambatovy project is owned by Sherritt International (40%), Sumitomo (27.5%), and SNC-Lavalin Inc. of Canada (5.0%). The mine's reserves are estimated at 17 million tons, one of the largest in the world after the Societe Le Nickel mine in New Caledonia and the Sorowako mine (South Sulawesi) in Indonesia.