Antam sales up 112% to Rp 11.9t in 2007

State owned mining company PT Aneka Tambang Tbk (Antam) booked Rp 11.9 trillion (US$1.3 billion) last year, up by 112 percent from Rp 5.57 trillion in the previous year thanks to the increases in the prices of commodities as well as higher production.

?Due to primarily higher nickel ore and ferronickel volumes and higher prices? Antam?s consolidated sales revenues rose 63 percent to Rp 3.6 trillion in the fourth quarter of the year, the company said in a statement.

The firm, which produces a range of commodities, including nickel and gold, has listed its shares in Jakarta and Sydney.

Antam produced 6,274 tons of nickel contained in ferronickel in the fourth of 2007, a 38 percent increase over the same quarter last year. Antam?s 2007 full year production increased 28 percent to 18,532 tons, an all time high.

On the back of strong demand from China , production of saprolite nickel ore increased 49 percent to 1,538,476 wmt compared to the same quarter last year. Full year production in 2007 rose 93 percent to 6,744,383 wmt.

Inline with lower grades and soft wall conditions at its Pongkor gold mine in West Java, the firm?s production of gold decreased 8 percent to 663 kg (21,314 oz.) in the fourth quarter of 2007. Annual production decreased 3 percent to 2,791kg (89,733 oz).

Trending higher together with production, Antam?s quarterly contained nickel sales increased 125% to 8,269 tons, bringing the full year increase to 31% or 17,547 tons.

Ferronickel, the downstream product made from smelting ore, contributed the largest share to quarterly and annual revenues of Rp2.2 trillion and Rp5.6 trillion respectively. (Bodega)