Antam sees 2008 ferronickel production affected by smelter leak

JSX-listed state miner PT. Antam Tbk said on Friday it is targeting to produce 17,000 tonnes of nickel contained in ferronickel in 2008, anticipating inability to fully resume operations at its FeNi III smelter in Pomalaa, South East Sulawesi.

A leak that had occurred in the smelter?s furnace wall on June 16, 2007 had caused power load from the newly operated plant to be cut to 2MW from 34 MW. Repairs works had been conducted since and currently the smelter is run at a power load of 20MW, following the completion of partial repairs on August 26th, 2007.

Antam will continue to carefully monitor the furnace and ramp up to no higher than 25MW, the company said in a release.

?Antam?s 2007-revised production forecast remains at 16,000 tonnes of nickel contained in ferronickel. This excludes 400-2,000 tonnes of additional production from a potential toll smelting agreement,? the company said. Prior to the leak the company targeted to produce 20,000 tonnes of ferronickel in 2007.

?Antam, together with the parties connected to the building, designing and operating of FeNi III, continues to investigate the metal leak. Upon completion of the investigation, likely before the end of year, Antam will make a more detailed announcement,? it said. (alex)