Madagascar's Ambatovy nickel mine, one of the world's largest nickel projects, is likely to cost more than $3 billion and employ 5,000 Malagasy in construction, the project's managing director said on Friday.
The mine, 80 km (50 miles) east of the capital, Antananarivo, is scheduled to begin production in 2010, reaching its annual capacity of 60,000 tonnes of nickel and 5,600 tonnes of cobalt after three years. On Thursday, Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo Corp, which owns a 27.5 percent stake, said the project could go ahead after it secured $2.1 billion in debt financing.
Yves Fourmanoit, who manages the project on behalf of Sherritt International Corp, which took over from Canadian miner Dynatec in June, said the company had yet to make a final announcement about the project's cost. The project will employ some 1,600 Malagasy workers when construction is complete, paying them between 800 ($0.43) and 2,400 Malagasy Ariary ($1.30) per hour.