UT to start production in Sumbawa gold mine end 2017
Friday, March 3 2017 - 02:06 AM WIB
Petromindo
IDX-listed heavy equipment and mining company PT United Tractors Tbk (UT) hopes its gold mine in Sumbawa, East Nusa Tenggara, will start production at the end of this year.
UT President Director Gideon Hasan said that the maiden output will still be relatively small as the company is still preparing the processing facility.
?Output at the end of this year will be less than 10,000 oz,? he said recently, adding that the output will come from one block where the company has completed exploration work and is estimated to have gold reserves of 400,000 oz.
UT through subsidiary PT Pamapersada Nusantara acquired in February of 2015 a 75.5 percent stake in PT Sumbawa Jutaraya, which owns the gold mine, for US$2.57 million. Prior to the acquisition, Sumbawa is majority owned by United Gold Resources Pte Ltd, and 5 percent owned by PT Sumba Mas Persada.
The company has said that the acquisition of the gold mining firm forms part of diversification strategy amid the lingering coal industry downturn. UT also operates coal mines, aside from providing mining services, and being the sole distributor of Komatsu heavy equipment in the country.
In November of last year, UT said that exploration activity at one block in the Sumbawa gold mine, of the planned total eight blocks, had been completed.
UT Finance Director Iwan Hadiantoro to Petromindo.com at the time that exploration at the block has found gold reserves of about 350,000-400,000 oz. The company hoped further exploration activities at the mine would find greater gold reserves. He said that the company plans to allocate US$60 million in capital expenditure to among others help finance exploration activities at the mine.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak