Lippo Group enters zirconium smelting business

Lippo Group, one of Indonesia?s major business conglomerates, will build a zirconium smelting plant in Sekadau, West Kalimantan to meet the growing demand for the zirconium products both at home and overseas market, Kontan reported on Friday.

Sources said that early next week Mochtar Riyadi, the founder of the Lippo Group, would visit the mining site to see for himself the preparation for the construction of the smelting plant. The business group will spend at least US$20 million to build the smelter which will process zirconium ores into zirconium silicate.

Executives of the business group were not available for confirmation, but Ferry Alfiand, the chairman of the association of zirconium miners (APZI) said that Lippo had brought in machinery equipment from China for the construction of the smelter.

He said that at least 14 containers of machinery equipment imported by the business group from China had arrived in Indonesia. According to him, Lippo?s smelter would produce zirconium silicate with 66 percent purification rate. (*)