Antam, Pelindo II to build port in W. Kalimantan

By Ruli Setiawan

State-controlled mining company PT Aneka Tambang Tbk (Antam) and state-owned aluminum producer PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum) will cooperate with state-owned port operator PT Pelindo II to develop a port in Sungai Kunyit District, Mempawah Regency, West Kalimantan Province, that would facilitate a planned alumina smelter.

IDX-listed Antam said in a statement that the three firms signed an MoU for the port development project on Wednesday witnessed by State Minister of State Owned Enterprises Rini Soemarno.

?Cooperation in the development of the port is one of the progresses in the planned construction of a smelter grade alumina (SGA) refinery in Mempawah, West Kalimantan,? Antam President Director Tedy Badrujaman said in the statement, but did not disclose further details about the planned port project.

He said that the port will be developed about six kilometers from the planned SGA refinery.

Antam and Inalum are teaming up with Aluminum Corporation of China to develop a combined 2 million tons per annum SGA refinery in Mempawah, which will require about six million tons of bauxite ores per year as raw material.

Construction will be divided in two stages, with the second stage to be developed after completion of the first stage with capacity of 1 mtpa.

The alumina output will be supplied to Inalum, which has been importing the raw material for aluminum production, Antam said.

Antam has previously said that construction of the SGA refinery was expected to start in the second quarter of this year, in the hope that it could be completed in 2019.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak