Antam completes repairing Pomalaa?s FeNi II smelter

Diversified mining company PT Antam Tbk said on Tuesday it had completed an 8-day repair job on the protective, heat-resistant lining of its second ferronickel smelter, FeNi II.

Antam said the short-term task, known as spot lining, had been officially completed one day ahead of schedule at 9:30 AM on Tuesday, when Antam's President Director D. Aditya Summagara officially switched on the smelter, located at Pomalaa, Southeast Sulawesi.

?The move is to ensure FeNi II will not need a full overhaul until 2005,? Antam said in a statement.

Antam said the current repairs to the lining will reduce the temperature of the outer shell and allow Antam to increase power to the normal operating load of 17 MWH.

Antam had said earlier that FeNi II had been scheduled for an overhaul in 2003. But, following the just completed spot lining repairs, the company said the overhaul would be pushed back to 2005.

As the planned repairs were moved forward from 2003 and with the 5-day shut down due to a strike in April, Antam revised its production target for 2002 to 9.100 tons of contained nickel in ferronickel.

Antam said it currently anticipates 2002 production of 8.850 tons of contained nickel in ferronickel, a 3 percent decrease from the revised target.

?The small decrease is possible as 250 tons will be toll smelted with Pamco of South Korea, to ensure customers' nickel orders are filled satisfactorily,? Antam added.

Antam is a diversified, vertically-integrated mining company with nickel and gold as its main products, and is 65 percent owned by the Indonesian government.

The company is listed on both the Jakarta and Australian Stock Exchanges. (robert)