Antam starts operation of anode slime processing plant
Tuesday, January 20 2015 - 12:37 AM WIB
IDX-listed mining company PT Aneka Tambang Tbk (Antam) said it has commenced the operation of an anode slime processing plant called Top Blown Rotary Converter (TBRC), which is the first in the country.
The company said in a statement Monday that the installment of the TBRC facility was intended for extracting gold metals and other valued metals such as selenium, palladium, platinum and others from anode slime, a byproduct of copper production.
The TBRC facility was launched by the Director General of Minerals and Coal, R. Sukhyar and Antam?s Operations Director, Tedy Badrujaman.
?The commencement of the operations of the TBRC facility reflects Antam?s gold business expansion. The operations of the facility is intended for enhancing the added value of anode slime through domestic processing. The operations of the TBRC facility also signals Antam?s strategy in strengthening the company?s cash flows from the gold business. We previously expanded our gold retail distribution through the launch of Gold Boutiques. As well, we recently launched a gold depository service to further strengthen our gold business,? Tedy said in the statement.
The US$500,000 TBRC facility has a processing capacity of 500 tons of anode slime per year. With an assumption of 1 percent gold content in one ton of anode slime, Antam expects to increase its gold production by 5 tons on top of the current gold production from the Pongkor and Cibaliung gold mines in West Java.
Antam said it plans to increase the TBRC processing capacity to 2,000 tons of anode slime per year in the future.
The domestic processing of anode slime is anticipated to benefit Indonesia in line with the expectation of higher state revenue. Antam said it expects government?s support in relation to value added tax (VAT) due to the project?s strategic position within Antam?s project portfolio.
The application of a 10 percent VAT on anode slime by the government has undermined the business prospect of anode slime processing in the country.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak