Newmont ready to supply concentrate to Nusantara Smelting
Wednesday, November 27 2013 - 10:44 AM WIB
PTNS previously announced plans to construct a new copper smelter in Bontang, East Kalimantan with a capacity of 200,000 tons per year, and PTNNT has committed to supplying copper concentrate to support the Government?s policy on downstream, in-country processing activities as expressed in the 2009 Mining Law.
?The CSPA is a win-win outcome for PTNS, PTNNT, and the Government,? said Martiono Hadianto, PTNNT?s President Director in a press release. ?A standalone PTNNT smelter was previously determined to not be ideal.
Therefore we want to demonstrate our commitment to supporting the Government?s policy by being a supplier of copper concentrate for a future domestic smelter, and PTNS?s plans to build smelting capacity will further the Government?s objectives.?
"With the signing of the CSPA, we can proceed with building a new smelter in Indonesia,? said Melvin Korompis, President Director of PTNS. "We believe that with the readiness shown by PTNNT now and, hopefully, PT Freeport Indonesia, we will be able to complete the smelter construction in 2018.?
PTNNT commenced operations in 2000, fulfilling the obligation under its Contract of Work to produce copper concentrate in Indonesia by processing raw ore at its mine site into copper concentrate through its crushing, grinding, and flotation processes, which enable PTNNT to contribute approximately 95 percent of the mineral value because buyers of its concentrate pay international refined metal prices for the copper, gold, and silver contained in the concentrate. In respect of in-country smelting and refining, PTNNT already maximizes the sale of its concentrates to PT Smelting, which operates the only copper smelter in Indonesia, located in Gresik, East Java . PTNNT currently sells approximately 20 percent of its annual concentrate production to PT Smelting, which is the maximum amount that PT Smelting can accommodate based on its current capacity.
"We support the Government?s policy on the in-country processing and refining,? said Martiono. "As mandated in our Contract of Work, we convert raw ore from the mine into copper concentrates at Batu Hijau, and we ship as much of our concentrates as PT Smelting is able to process.?
In addition to signing the CSPA with PT Nusantara Smelting, PTNNT has also entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with PT Indovasi Mineral Indonesia and PT Indosmelt to supply copper concentrates to these companies that have also announced plans to construct concentrate smelters in Indonesia. ?While our concentrate supply is limited,? said Martiono, ?we would be pleased to sell all of our concentrate at benchmark prices to Indonesian smelters, provided we fulfill our existing commitments to PT Smelting, as well.?
Editing by Johannes Simbolon