Antam to spend Rp 6 trillion for expansion this year

IDX-listed mining company PT Aneka Tambang (ANTM) plans to spend up to Rp 6 trillion (about US$625 million ) this year for business expansion, Kontan reported on Wednesday.

The company?s president director Alwinsyah Lubis said in Jakarta on Tuesday that investments would come from the company?s internal funds and from bank loans. ?Antam had total cash of about Rp 3.87 trillion at the end of 2012,? he added.

The expansion program includes the construction of a smelting plant to process nickel ores to become ferronickel in Halmahera, North Maluku. The smelting plant which has been under construction since 2011 will require about $1.6 billion in investment.

In addition, through its subsidiary PT Indonesia Chemical Alumina, Antam would also build a chemical grade alumina (CGA) plant in Tayan, West Kalimantan. Antam would also develop a gold mine in Myanmar as part of its expansion plan in the country. For expansion in Myanmar, Antam has allocated about Rp 90 billion in investments.

Antam would also use part of the investment to meet its target to increase gold production to 3.32 tons from 2.85 tons, and to increase nickel production to 12.5 million wet tons this year from 7.5 million wet tons. (*)