Release: Antam signs long-term operation & maintenance agreement with Wartsila
Three new generators operational by early 2005
Monday, July 12 2004 - 04:14 AM WIB
JAKARTA, 12 July 2004: PT Antam Tbk (ASX - ATM; JSX - ANTM) is pleased to announce it has signed an eleven-year operation & maintenance (O&M) agreement with Wartsila Corporation, a leading provider of power plants, covering the operation and maintenance of a 152-MW power plant supplying the energy needs of the Pomalaa nickel facility in Southeast Sulawesi. Under this agreement, Wartsila is responsible for the operation, predictive maintenance and spare parts for the power plant. The agreement also includes the use of a number of Antam's existing power plant staff.
Antam's development Director Darma Ambiar said, "this is the first time we have signed an O&M agreement; we hope by engaging Wartsila's services, we can help ensure low cost and consistent power generation as Antam focuses on ferronickel processing activities." Antam's Pomalaa nickel facility has a power plant with 50-MW capacity, which supplies the two existing smelters as well as auxillary requirements. Wartsila is currently constructing a new power plant of 6 generators, which will add 102 MW of capacity. The extra capacity is required to power Antam's nickel ferronickel facility following an expansion which will more than double Antam's contained nickel in ferronickel capacity in 2006 to 26,000 tonnes per year. The new power supply will take 24 months to construct at a cost of US64 million, before financial charges. Three of the generators will be running by early 2005, which will provide more immediate improvements to the consistency and load of Pomalaa's power supply. The last three generators will be complete by the time Antam's new third ferronickel smelter, FeNi III, is ready to be switched on for the 4 month ramping up period at the end of 2005. FeNi III has been under construction since October 2003 by an unincorporated consortium of Mitsui and Kawasaki and will become commercially operational in early 2006.
Contact: Mr Dohar Siregar, Corporate Secretary, Tel: (6221) 7805119, Fax: (6221) 7812822, Email: corsec@antam.com.
Notes:
PT Antam Tbk is 65% state-held and listed on the Jakarta, Surabaya (1997) and Australian Stock Exchanges (1999). Antam is a vertically integrated and diversified mining and metals company with nickel and gold as its core products. The company is among the foremost mining companies in Indonesia and has 36 years of operationg experience.
Wartsila is The Ship Power Supplier for builders, owners and operators of vessels and offshore installations. Wartsila is the only company with a global service network to take complete care of customers' ship machinery at every lifecycle stage. Wartsila is a leading provider of power plants, operation and lifetime care services in decentralized power generation. (*)