Antam, Inalum to sign JV agreement with Chinalco end May

By Thomas Sembiring

IDX-listed mining firm PT Aneka Tambang Tbk (Antam) and state-owned aluminum maker PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum) has set up a consortium to develop a smelter grade alumina (SGA) plant in Mempawah, West Kalimantan Province.

Antam Director of Human Resources, Johan Nababan told Petromindo.com recently that the Antam-Inalum consortium will then sign a joint venture (JV) agreement with Chinalco to realize the smelter project.

Johan said that the JV agreement with Chinalco is expected to be made at the end of this month. ?The plan is to sign the JV agreement at the end of May,? he said.

He added that the project has entered the feasibility study stage.

Separately, Inalum Corporate Secretary Ricky Gunawan confirmed that a JV agreement between his company and Antam has been signed, under which Inalum holds a 60 percent stake.

He added that the Antam-Inalum consortium hopes to have majority stake in the planned JV company with Chinalco. ?We hope that construction (of the SGA plant) can be started in 2018,? he said.

Inalum, Antam), and China Aluminum Company (Chinalco) signed a MoU late in 2015 to build the SGA plant, which is planned to have a production capacity of 2 million tons per year, of which the first phase will have a capacity of 1 million tons per year, requiring bauxite ores supply of 6 million tons per year.

One of the crucial issues that must be settled by the three companies is division of shares in the estimated US$1.5 billion-$1.8 billion project.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak