Antam plans to sell 6.5 tonnes of gold next year

State owned mining company PT Aneka Tambang Tbk (Antam) plans to sell about 6.5 tons of gold next year, an increase from about 6 tonnes this year, Kontan reported on Thursday.

Antam?s president director Alwinsyah Loebis said in Jakarta on Wednesday that about 3 tonnes of gold would come from the company?s own mines and the remaining 3 tonnes would be procured from other mining companies.

Although the company planned to increase gold sales, Awlinsyah was still unsure about the gold prices next year because the gold prices would likely continue to fluctuate due to uncertainties in the global economy. According to Antam?s data, gold price is still about US$1,400 per troy ounce. ?It is still difficult to predict,? he added.

Antam also plans to sell 18,000 tonnes of nickel next year, almost the same level with this year?s sales. Alwinsyah said that the demand for nickel especially from main buyer China would likely decline due to the world?s economic slowdown especially in the first semester.

?But we are optimistic that the demand will recover again in the second semester,? he said.

Antam said that it booked total sales of Rp 7.8 trillion (US$865.8 million) in the third quarter of this year, a 36 percent increase from Rp 5.7 trillion in the same period, last year. Nickel contributed Rp 3.1 trillion to the total sales, while gold contributed Rp 2.56 trillion. Nickel sales rose by 37 percent to 14,985 tonnes in the first nine months of this year and gold sales rose to 5.8 tonnes during the period. (*)