Antam will soon resume the operation of FeNi II plant

State owned mining company PT Aneka Tambang (PT Antam) will resume the operation of its second processing smelter plant FeNi II which has been shut down since April this year due to technical problem.

Antam's president director Dedi Aditya Sumanegara said in Jakarta on Friday that the plant would start its trial operation next week before resuming its normal activities next month.

"We hope FeNi II plant will be able to resume its normal operation next month," he said. Commenting on newspaper reports that the government would not sell its shares in PT Freeport Indonesia, Dedi said that Antam was still waiting the government's written response to the company's offer.

Antam said recently that it had formally proposed to the state minister of state enterprises to buy the government's 9.36 percent shares in Freeport and had appointed financial advisors to assess the purchase of the shares. But Minister of Finance Jusuf Anwar said last week that the government would not sell its shares in the world's gold mining giant.

At present, Freeport is jointly owned by Freeport McMoran Copper and Gold (81.28 percent), Indocopper Investama (9.36 percent) and the Indonesian government (9.36 percent). (dino)