Antam?s FeNi III smelter plant completes final test

State-owned mining company PT Antam Tbk said Monday that Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractors have completed the final smelter plant test of FeNi III.

The plant test took from December 27, 2006 until January 1, 2007.

The plant test will be followed by the hand-over of the new smelter to Antam after finalization of legal documentation, which will occur shortly, Antam said in statement to Australian stock Exchange.

The EPC contractors will run the smelter until commercial operations are declared, Antam said.

The commissioning period of FeNI III was delayed by a couple months, largely due to a leak from the metal tap hole of the smelter that occurred July 1, 2006. The leak caused a four month shutdown, longer than the three months Antam initially expected and announced on July 5, 2006.

Antam said that it will likely produce 14,000 tons of nickel contained in ferronickel in 2006, increase 90 percent from 2005 production and expected to produce production levels of between 20,000 to 22,000 tons of nickel contained in ferronickel in 2007.

According to Antam, the range of production level in 2007 is required to allow for potential further set backs with FeNi III and also due to the as yet undetermined time required for maintenance to FeNi I, which was last overhauled at the end of 1998.

Antam is expected to shutdown FeNi I for six-week at the beginning of 2007 but the conditions inside of furnace may require a longer shutdown.

Antam operates 3 units of smelters in Pomalaa, South East Sulawesi. (denny)