Antam reports higher ferronickel output in Q3

State-owned diversified mining firm PT Antam reported Friday its contained nickel in ferronickel output jumped 141 percent to 3,064 tons in third quarter of 2006, compared to the same quarter last year as FeNi I and FeNi II smelters operated above normal production levels to compensate for the shutdown of FeNi III.

Inline with the repair of FeNi III, Antam expects to produce between 13,000-15,000 tons of contained nickel in ferronickel in 2006, Antam said in its quarterly report. Antam produced 7,338 tons of contained nickel in ferronickel in 2005.

Antam?s FeNi I and FeNi II have a combined capacity of 11,000 tons of ferronickel per year.

Antam earlier said the third smelter would resume full operation by the end of November.

Meanwhile, Antam?s saprolite nickel ore production increased 27 percent to 828,894 wet metric tons (wmt) compared to the same quarter last year. The company?s limonite production includes low grade ore and low grade saprolite ore (LGSO), decreased slightly over the same quarter last year to 239,252 wmt.

Due to the implementation of the redesign of the Pongkor gold mine, production of gold improved to 874 kg, from 757 kg in the third quarter of 2005. Meanwhile, inline with higher gold output, production of silver, a by-product of gold, increased 6% to 7,067 kg.

Antam also reported that the bauxite sales volumes decreased 25 percent to 363,943 wmt due to the depletion of reserves at the Kijang mine.

Antam?s consolidated third quarter sales revenue was 44 percent higher to Rp1,297 billion compared to the same period last year, in line with higher commodity prices as well as higher sales volume of ferronickel. (Robert)