Nickel Industries Limited announced that the Oracle Nickel Project‘s 380MW power plant in the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) in Central Sulawesi had begun commissioning.
While the Project’s 4 RKEF lines have been gradually brought online over the previous several months, limited power supply within the IMIP energy grid has kept output levels at around 80% of nameplate capacity. With the power plant fully operational, output levels at the Oracle Nickel Project are projected to slowly climb to about 130% of nameplate capacity, consistent with the Company’s established RKEF operations’ record outperformance over nameplate capacity.
Oracle Nickel’s RKEF lines, like the Company’s replica Angel Nickel Project in the Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park (IWIP) on Halmahera Island, are expected to save more than 20% on electricity charges, which currently account for approximately 25% of total operating cash costs.
“We are pleased to announce the commissioning of the Oracle Nickel Project power plant, which follows the early commissioning of the four Oracle RKEF lines and should now allow these lines to materially increase their production levels to in excess of 130% of nameplate capacity. In addition, we expect a significant reduction in the electricity component of the Oracle operating cash costs, which allowed our Angel Nickel project to deliver margins of US$4,894 per tonne versus US$1,559 per tonne from our older Ranger Nickel lines in the March quarter,” Nickel Industries Managing Director Justin Werner said.
