Antam starts Tayan chemical grade alumina construction
Monday, April 11 2011 - 08:26 AM WIB
Minister of Industry, M.S. Hidayat has officially set the ground breaking ceremony for the Tayan CGA Project. Gita Wirjawan, the Head of Investment Coordinating Board, Cornelis M. H., Governor of West Kalimantan, and other government officials also attended the ceremony, Antam said in statement
The Tayan CGA Project will be developed by PT Indonesia Chemical Alumina (ICA), a joint venture company between Antam and Showa Denko K.K. (SDK) of Japan. Antam owns 80% shares of ICA and SDK holds the remaining 20%.
The project cost will be financed by the two parent companies? equity investments in ICA, a loan from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), and bank loans with debt guarantee provided by the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC). The Tayan CGA Project is to be built by a construction consortium of PT Wijaya Karya (Persero) Tbk, Tsukishima Kikai Co. Ltd. Japan, and PT Nusantara Energi Abadi (Nusea).
Construction of the project is expected to take 32 months and commercial production is expected to commence in January of 2014. The Tayan CGA Project will process Antam?s bauxite reserves to produce 300,000 tonnes of CGA per annum to be exported as well as sold to the Indonesian domestic market, it said.
The term of Chemical Grade Alumina (CGA) refers collectively to aluminum hydroxide and alumina for applications other than aluminum smelting. As an example, aluminum hydroxide, an intermediate product in alumina production, is used as coagulant for water purification. While alumina is widely used for the smelting of aluminum metal, alumina is also used in the production of functional materials and electronic materials. Applications include refractories, abrasives, building materials, IC packaging, and materials for LCD glass.
The construction of the Tayan CGA Project signifies the execution of Antam?s long term growth strategy. Antam expects this project will generate optimal returns for its shareholders through the processing of its vast, high quality bauxite reserves as the Tayan CGA Project would have a potential revenue of US$200 million annually at the project level. (romel)