Shining to help fund Indosmelt?s smelter project

PT Indosmelt has signed an MoU with China?s Shining Resources Co Ltd, in which the latter would provide US$700 million funding facility to help finance the former?s copper cathode project, Kontan reported on Wednesday.

The paper quoted Indosmelt President Director Natsir Mansur as saying that the MoU was signed in November in Beijing. He added that part of the funds would come in the form of Shining?s equity in the smelter project.

Indosmelt plans to develop a US$1 billion copper cathode smelter in Maros, South Sulawesi, with a capacity of 120,000 tons per year. The smelter will require copper concentrates supply of 500,000 tons per year.

The company?s smelter project, however, has been hampered by lingering uncertainty over the supply of copper concentrate raw material. ?We?re still waiting for supply from Newmont and Freeport,? Natsir said, referring to PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara and PT Freeport Indonesia, the largest copper concentrate producers in the country. (*)