Indonesia says Australia's Fortescue and China's Tsingshan to invest billions in Borneo

JAKARTA, Aug 24 (Reuters): Australia's Fortescue Metals Group and China's Tsingshan Holding Group could invest billions of dollars to build an industrial estate for metal smelting near a planned hydropower plant on Borneo island, an Indonesian minister said.

The companies have been in talks since early this year about the project and minister of maritime affairs and investment, Luhut Pandjaitan, has said smelting of iron, nickel and copper ores at the estate could start as early as 2023.