Antam, Baramas plan proppant production

IDX-listed mining company PT Aneka Tambang Tbk (Antam) is planning to team up with PT Baramas Mandiri to develop a smelter to process bauxite into proppants, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Wednesday.

The paper quoted Director General of Mineral and Coal R. Sukhyar, who is also a commissioner at Antam, as saying that the smelter would be located in West Kalimantan. Antam would supply the bauxite requirement, while Baramas will construct the smelter, in which Antam may have a stake.

The planned smelter will need about 500,000 tons of bauxite per year to produce around 250,000 tons of proppants, which will be exported for use in the booming shale gas sector in the US and Canada, Sukhyar explained.

Antam Corporate Secretary Tri Hartono, however, said he has no knowledge about the planned project with Baramas. (*)