"That project is 90 per cent complete," Anaconda chief executive Andrew Forrest told Reuters.

"We will commence commissioning in November," he said.

Anaconda said just over a month ago commissioning would begin in December, with a second stage coming onstream about two years later.

He said A$1 billion has been spent on the initial project, which would produce an annual 45,000 tonnes of nickel and 3,000 tonnes of cobalt a year.

He said expansion of the mine, known as Murrin Murrin StageII, would be complete in calendar 2000 and would cost a further A$1 billion.

Anaconda said the expansion will raise the mine's total production to 115,000 tonnes of nickel and 9,000 tonnes of cobalt.

Murrin Murrin, which has a projected 30-year mine life, is to tap low-cost laterite ore deposits and conduct processing workat the mine site.

It will generate positive cash flow after operating and other costs with a nickel price as low as US$1.60 a pound and a cobalt price of $8 a pound, Anaconda finance director Michael Masterman told Reuters recently.

Nickel is now around $1.90 a pound and cobalt around $18 a pound.

Anaconda has been scrambling to bring the first stage onstream ahead of Inco Ltd's giant Voisey's Bay lode, discovered in Canada's Labrador province.

The second stage of Murrin Murrin was granted fast-track status by the Australian government in mid-July.

Anaconda largely bypassed any Aboriginal land rights delays by agreeing to target a 20 per cent Aboriginal workforce.

Anaconda shares closed steady on Friday at A$3.05.