Antam's Q1 total sales up slightly

State-owned Indonesian nickel and gold miner PT Aneka Tambang (Antam) said on Thursday its first quarter sales went up slightly to 342.96 billion rupiah ($36.8 million) from 338.92 billion a year ago.

The company said it produced 2,158 tonnes of nickel in the first quarter, down from 2,433 tonnes the previous year, but sales had increased to 1,935 tonnes from 1,741 in the same period.

Its average sales price of nickel in the first quarter was down to $2.76 per pound from $2.97 a year ago.

"Gold production dropped to 631 kg, a decrease of 30 percent compared to first quarter 2001...due to excavating a low-grade area of the mine," the company said in its statement.

The company, also listed in Australia, sold 618 kg of gold in the first quarter, down from 870 kg in the same period last year.

Antam also sells nickel ore, bauxite, iron sand and silver.

Some stock watchers were bullish on Antam partly on expectations commodity prices would rise this year.

Its average sales price for nickel was at $2.54 per pound in 2001. Another major nickel producer in Indonesia has forecast world nickel prices to rise by seven percent this year from last year's average of $2.19 per pound.(*)