Antam?s Q2 revenue soars on higher ferronickel production, price
Friday, July 28 2006 - 01:44 AM WIB
The company said that the increase is largely due to higher sales volumes and prices of ferronickel, as the new smelter FeNi III began to produce nickel during commissioning, and high grade nickel ore due to output from the new Mornopo mine.
Antam?s 2006 ferronickel production increased 196% to 4,153 tonnes of nickel contained in ferronickel including production from the new FeNi III smelter, which had yet to reach commercial operations but was operating at or near full capacity from about the middle of May.
Production of ferronickel in the first half of 2006 increased 151% to 6,859 tonnes.
As part of an agreement with PT Inco, in the first half of 2006, Antam used 518,323 wmt of nickel ore from PT Inco?s East Pomalaa deposit as ore feed to its ferronickel smelters. Each year, Antam will acquire 1,000,000 tonnes of ore from adjacent reserves, called East Pomalaa, held by PT Inco. The cost of the nickel ore is determined by the international spot price for nickel. The ore is mined and transported by Antam?s local contractors.
Antam?s newly operated Fe Ni III will be shut down for three months starting July for repairs. Because of the shutdown, Antam lowered the 2006 production target for nickel contained in ferronickel to 13,000 ? 16,000 tonnes from 19,000 tonnes.
Production of saprolite, or high grade nickel ore, increased 61% to 961,241 wet metric tons (wmt), as Antam ramped up production at the Buli nickel mine. Antam?s total high grade production for the first half of 2006 amounted to 1,633,011 wmt, a 38% increase compared to the same period last year.
In 2Q06, production of limonite, which includes LGSO and low grade nickel ore, increased slightly of 2% to 154,863 wmt. In the first half of 2006, Antam produced 376,845 wmt of limonite, a 19% decrease compared to the same period last year. Antam aims to produce 3.15 million wmt of saprolite and 950,000 wmt of limonite this year.
Production from Antam?s Pongkor gold mine in West Java fell 21 percent to 815 kgs during the quarter as Antam implemented the redesign of the Pongkor gold mine. (alex)