Antam?s 2005 net profit increases 4% to US$87 million
Friday, March 17 2006 - 03:36 AM WIB
Antam said its consolidated net sales rose to Rp3,287 billion, or US$338 million, a 15 percent increase over the Rp2,858 billion, or US$320 million of 2004.
The increase is largely attributed to higher prices for all of Antam?s main products, which increased from 3.5 percent to 16 percent, higher sales volumes of high grade nickel ore, and a weaker Rupiah.
Antam said the realized selling price for all of products increased, except for iron sands. The price of Antam?s three top contributors, high grade nickel ore, ferronickel and gold, increased 5 percent, 3.5 percent and 8 percent to US$44.64 per wet metric ton (wmt), US$6.45 per pound and US$446.14 per troy ounce, respectively.
Antam also said nickel ore was again the largest contributor, providing a slightly higher 46 percent of total revenues, while ferronickel contribution dropped to 30 percent. Gold, silver and bauxite contributed a similar 16 percent, 2 percent and 6 percent. The revenue portions provided by iron sands and precious metals refinery services decreased to an even more insignificant 0.1 percent and 0.3 percent.
Antam?s high grade nickel ore production or saprolite reached 3,408,252 wmt in 2005, an 8 percent increase over 2004. Meanwhile, low grade nickel ore production or limonite reached 672,548 wmt or 75 percent of the year?s target of 900,000 wmt. Limonite production included production of low-grade saprolite ore which amounted to 510,529 wmt.
In 2005, Antam produced 7,338 tonnes of contained nickel in ferronickel, including 904 tonnes produced via toll smelting with Pamco, or 8 percent lower compared with 2004 due to the unscheduled shut down of the FeNi II smelter in March 2005.
Antam?s 2005 gold production was lower at 2,911 kg or about 78 percent of the yearly target and a 22 percent decrease compared with 2004. Antam?s gold mine at Pongkor experienced numerous difficulties throughout 2005 when one of its ball mills broke down in early 2005. Inline with lower gold production, production of silver, which is a by product of gold, only reached 24,605 kg, a decrease of 11 percent over 2004.
In 2005, Antam produced 1,441,899 wmt of washed bauxite, an 8 percent increase over 2004. Meanwhile, production and sales of iron sands continued to remain sluggish. Production reached 21,901 wmt, a sharp decrease compared with 89,664 wmt of production in 2004.
Antam targets 2,360 kg for gold production in 2006 following lower production at Pongkor. The company plans to increase sales of nickel ore and bauxite to offset potential loss of income from lower gold sales in 2006. (Robert)