Antam seeks BHP, Sumitomo technology

PT Aneka Tambang (Antam), which mines nickel and gold in Indonesia, is seeking to license technology from BHP Billiton, the world?s largest producer of nickel, or Sumitomo Metal Mining Corp. for a project estimated to cost US$1 billion. The Jakarta Post reported on Tuesday.

The proposed project involves producing 50,000 metric tons a year of nickel, used to make stainless steel, at Halmahera, an island in eastern Indonesia, starting 2010, Dedi Aditya Sumanagara told analysts and reporters.

Aneka Tambang is increasing output as economic growth in China and India boosts demand for stainless steel used for homes, offices and factories. Nickel prices have climbed to a record this year, increasing the attractiveness of mining lower grade nickel deposits

?We want to harness new technology such as high-pressure acid leaching,? which can be used to extract nickel from low-grade ore, Dedi said May 4. ?We?re in talks with BHP Billiton and Sumitomo. They have the technology.?

BHP?s spokeswoman Emma Meade declined to comment on whether the company is in talks with Aneka Tambang for providing technology. BHP, the world?s largest mining company, has bought ore from Aneka Tambang for the past decade, she said. BHP became the world?s biggest nickel producer when it took over WMC Resources Ltd. last June.

Sumitomo Metal?s spokesman Satoshi Oku also declined to comment. The company, Japan?s biggest nickel producer, said in March it will invest US$285 million to double the capacity of a 10,000-ton nickel refinery in the Philippines by building a second high-pressure acid-leaching plant.

Nickel futures traded on the London Metal Exchange have climbed 57 percent this year, hitting a record $21,876 a metric ton on May 12.

Nickel contributed 78 percent of Aneka?s sales in the March quarter. Its largest nickel-mining operation is in Indonesia?s Southeast Sulawesi province, southwest of Halmahera. The company?s third smelter will start later this month, more than doubling output to 19,000 tons this year, Dedi said.

By 2011, Aneka Tambang will build a fourth smelter, adding 30,000 tons a year of new capacity, he said. The company has signed an agreement with South Korea?s Posco, the world?s fifth biggest steelmaker, for the $650 million project that may be located in Halmahera, Dedi said. (*)