Government plans aluminum cluster in N. Kalimantan
Thursday, March 9 2017 - 03:03 AM WIB
Courtesy of Ministry of Industry
The government and provincial administration of North Kalimantan are preparing to develop a 10,000-ha industrial estate in the province as location for mineral smelter industries including aluminum cluster, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Thursday.
The paper quoted Minister of Industry Airlangga Hartarto as saying that North Kalimantan is quite potential to house an aluminum industry cluster as it has cheap energy potential.
Speaking at the Kaltara Investment Forum 2017, a forum aimed at luring investment to North Kalimantan, on Wednesday he pointed out that North Kalimantan offers huge potential for hydro power plant development with total capacity of up to 20,000 MW. ?If these (hydro power plants) can be developed, we can build cluster for smelters,? he said.
Airlangga said that the country?s aluminum demand currently stands at around 1 million tons per year, while domestic producer PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum) only has production capacity of 300,000 tons per year.
A company called PT Kayan Hidro Energy (KHE) plans to develop a hydro power plant in Peso District, Bulungan Regency, North Kalimantan, taking advantage of the local Kayan River. In the initial phase, KHE will develop a 900 MW hydro power plant, with a potential to expand the project up to 9,000 MW.
State-owned Inalum said last year it aimed to nearly quadruple annual production capacity to 1 million tons by 2025. The planned increase in the production capacity will be realize once its smelter grade alumina (SGA) refinery project has been completed.
The SGA refinery, targeted to be completed in 2018, will produce alumina, a key raw material for aluminum production. Inalum has been importing the raw material. If production capacity will be bolstered to 1 million tons per annum, the company will need about 2 million tons of alumina. Inalum, however, plans to build the SGA project in West Kalimantan. (*)