NOCI to invest up to $365 mln in Ivory Coast nickel project

ABIDJAN, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast nickel company Nickel de l'Ouest Côte d'Ivoire (NOCI) will invest up to 220 billion CFA francs ($365 million) in concessions in the country's west, a government spokesman said.

The government granted the company a mining permit on Thursday.

The concessions include the Sipilou nickel mine, which miner and commodity trader Glencore (Xetra: A1JAGV - news) inherited through its takeover of Xstrata in 2013.

Glencore sold Sipilou last year, along with a copper mine in the Philippines and another nickel mine in the Dominican Republic for a total of $290 million.

Ivory Coast government spokesman Bruno Kone said the cabinet approved at a meeting on Thursday an exploitation permit for concessions in Touba and Biankouma, along the western border with Guinea.

Kone (LSE: 0II2.L - news) said exploration had identified 60 million tonnes of reserves with nickel content of 1.74 percent.

NOCI plans to invest 130 billion CFA in the first phase of the project with another 60 to 90 billion expected in the second phase, creating a total of 700 permanent jobs, Kone said. ($1 = 602.6300 CFA francs) (Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Editing by Joe Bavier and Susan Fenton)