Weak price limits Cakra?s zircon sand production

IDX-listed mining company PT Cakra Mineral Tbk has yet to be able to produce zircon sand at full capacity due to the lingering weak price of the commodity in the global market, Kontan reported on Saturday.

The paper quoted Cakra Corporate Secretary Dexter Sjarif Putra as saying that zircon sand production by subsidiary PT Takaras Inti Lestari in Central Kalimantan during the first semester of this year totaled only 700 tons, less than half of the installed capacity of 1,500 tons.

The company exported its zircon sands to China, Italy, Germany, and Ukraine.

Zircon sand has been Cakra?s single source of revenue as it has not been able to export iron and nickel minerals because the company has yet to able to complete construction of domestic smelter required by the government since 2014. The smelter project has been stalled amid the weak commodity price environment.

Cakra has set a revenue target of US$4.5 million this year from the sales of zircon sands, whose price continued to tumble by about 25 percent from the level last year, Dexter said.

He said that to help sustain the company?s future stream of revenue, Cakra has allocated Rp 200 billion for mine acquisition. He declined to provide further details. (*)