Antam to complete study on W. Kalimantan bauxite project
Saturday, November 15 2003 - 03:50 AM WIB
Eko Endriawan, an investor relations official at Antam, told Reuters the company is seeking foreign partners to help finance development of the 108-million ton deposit and to produce alumina from the bauxite ore.
"There is no confirmation yet when the project is due to begin," Endriawan said. "We're currently seeking financing."
He said the main problem in finding a backer lies in the uncertainty of the mining industry in Indonesia. "It is a sound investment," he said of Tayan, but added that potential investors would like to see what he called more certain regulation in place in Indonesia.
Production at Tayan is expected to be 850,000 tons of bauxite ore annually, which would yield 300,000 tons of smelter-grade alumina, said Endriawan. Alumina is the raw material for producing aluminium.
Antam already mines bauxite at its Kijang deposit on Bintan Island, near Singapore. Endriawan said: "We're currently negotiating with a Japanese buyer (to sell Kijang bauxite) but we need to calculate whether the margin is economical enough."
The Kijang mine will close in two to three years, he said. It has around three million wet metric tons of reserves left in the ground.
Kijang bauxite output in 2003 is seen remaining stable at 1.3 million tons.
Meanwhile, the company also said that it wanted government to resolve conflicts between forestry laws and mining to encourage foreign investment.
"This is really not good. The government has to solve the problem between forestry law and mining as soon as possible to allow investors to come," Antam chief Dedi Aditya Sumanagara told reporters on Friday.
Sumanagara said Antam is keen to develop nickel in Gag Island, in Papua province, but the firm wanted clear laws to protect them. (*)