Australia Oriental Minerals establishes Indonesian unit

Australian mining explorer Australia Oriental Minerals NL (AOM) announced Tuesday it had established a wholly owned Indonesian subsidiary namely PT AOM Indonesia to allow it to discovering and developing potential mineral deposits located within the South East Asian region.

AOM?s main business had been tin mining. However with the closure of the tin mining operation at Ardlethan of Australia last year, AOM lost its only operating mine. The company is currently concentrating its resources on the exploration for tin and other minerals on its exploration tenements in Queensland and New South Wales.

Malaysia Smelting Corporation Bhd is currently AOM?s largest current shareholder and, with its 75 percent owned Indonesian associate, PT Koba Tin, is the largest refined tin supplier in the world, contributing around 18 percent to the world refined tin production in 2004.

Che Wan Lim and Andrew Bursill have been appointed to the Board of Commissioners of the Indonesian unit and Lim has been appointed as the President Director, according to AOM?s statement Tuesday. (Robert)