Antam rumored seeking cooperation with GE Power for ferronickel project

State-run miner PT Aneka Tambang Tbk (Antam) has considered to cooperate with GE Power to build a power plant for its third nickel smelting facility in Southeast Sulawesi, Bisnis Indonesia daily reported Monday.

If materialized, the cooperation would enable Antam to cut the total cost of the nickel smelting project, from US$360 million -- $380 million to $220 million -- $240 million, the paper quoted an industry source as saying over the weekend.

The construction of the smelting plant, FeNi III, will require no more than $277.16 million, while the power plant project will cost $103.62 million at the most, according to the source. The power plant will have capacity to generate 70-80 megawatts of electricity, the source said.

The initial plan was that Antam would finance the FeNi III projects with its own funds and loans from a German consortium of creditors led by IKB Hermes and state-owned Bank Mandiri.

Meanwhile, Antam president director Dedi Aditya Sumanagara declined to comment on its plan to cooperate with GE Power.

?I can not say anything because things are still going. Even, the process of obtaining loans from IKB Hermes is still continuing. But, we have prepared alternatives,? Dedi said.

FeNi III was planned to have annual production capacity of 20,000 tons of ferronickel.

Antam is majority owned by the government, and is listed on the Jakarta Stock Exhange and an Australian bourse. (*)