SMR, Chinese and S.Korean firms to team up to build mangan ore smelter

IDX-listed company PT SMR Utama Tbk will team up with Chinese and South Korean companies to build a mangan ore smelter in East Nusa Tenggara with investment of between US$8 million and $10 million, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Monday

SMR?s spokesman Adi Wibowo Adisaputro said that the company was still conducting a feasibility study on the planned construction of the smelting plant including the availability of power supply from state owned electricity company PLN.

?We are also still studying the types of technologies to be applied for the smelter. We hope the feasibility study can be completed in the first semester of this year,? he added.

Besides from its own mines, the company would also invite other miners to process their mangan ores in its smelter, which will have the capacity to produce 6,000 tons of ferro manganese or silicon manganese

SMR Utama has three subsidiaries including PT Soe Makmur Resources, PT Mikarsa Alam Resources, and PT Transentra Nusantara, which operates mining areas of about 4,550 hectares. Last year, SMR produces 70,000 tons of mangan ores mostly exported to China. (*)