AMG builds Indonesia's first ferro-manganese smelter

By Tri Subhki R

PT Asia Mangan Grup (AMG), a local subsidiary of Australia?s Asia Minerals Corp, held a groundbreaking ceremony for its ferro-manganese smelter project in Belu regency, East Nusa Tenggara, on Saturday.

AMG President Director Michael Kiernan said that the US$150 million smelter project will be built in three stages and estimated to reach its total capacity of 128,000 tons of manganese alloy in 2016.

"The smelter will have 8 electric arc furnaces and 8 coal-fired power plants with capacity of 12 MW for each power plant," he said.

Governor of East Nusa Tenggara Frans Lebu Raya officially inaugurated the ferro-manganese smelter by putting the first stone.

Belu Regent Joachim Lopez also welcomed the manganese smelter project and emphasized on the benefit for local communities and for protecting the environment.

Newly-appointed Director General of Mineral and Coal at Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources R. Sukhyar said that it will be the first manganese smelter in Indonesia.

"Government fully supports the smelter industry as mandated in the Law No 4/2009 on Mineral and Coal Mining," he said.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak