FeNi III commercial operations begins

State miner PT.Aneka Tambang Tbk. said its new FeNi III smelter had begun commercial operations on Monday following the hand over of the unit from EPC contractor.

The smelter has maximum capacity of 15,000 tonnes of nickel contained in ferronickel if it operates at the full power load of 42MW and uses ore feed with a 2.38 percent nickel grade. To ensure long term and stable operations, the plant is currently operating at 85-90 percent of capacity.

Antam said with addition of the new smelter, it would produce 22,000 tonnes of ferronickel in 2007, higher than 14,500 tonnes production in 2006. Beside FeNi III, Antam operates two smaller smelters called FeNi I and FeNi II.(alex)