Aneka Tambang may build gas-fired nickel plant
Aneka Tambang may build gas-fired nickel plant
Bloomberg, Jakarta
PT Aneka Tambang, an Indonesian gold and nickel miner that is 65
percent owned by the government, may build a fourth nickel
processing plant that uses natural gas instead of diesel to
reduce fuel costs, president-director Dedi Aditya Sumanagara said
in an interview.
"It's important that we build near an energy source and not
use diesel, like perhaps building near gas plants in Sulawesi,"
an island in east Indonesia, he said on Tuesday.
Aneka Tambang has two nickel processing plants using marine
diesel and industrial diesel, with a third plant to start next
year, its 2004 earnings report said. Aneka Tambang's production
costs rose 5 percent last year to Rp 1.52 trillion (US$161
million) with Rp 192 billion spent on fuel, it said in the
earnings report released on Feb. 28.
"Producing ferronickel requires tremendous amounts of energy
to generate the extremely high temperatures which are required to
extract nickel," the report said. Fuel costs account for half of
the cost of materials, or 13 percent of total cost of sales, it
said.
Since March 1, the price of industrial diesel has risen 33
percent and marine diesel, by 39 percent, after the government
cut fuel subsidies.
The proposed fourth processing plant will be for a venture
with Posco, South Korea's largest steelmaker, for a ferronickel
project in Halmahera, an island in eastern Indonesia near
Sulawesi. They plan to produce 30,000 tons of nickel contained in
ferronickel annually, both partners said.
Aneka Tambang will probably rely on its own funds for a
majority stake in the project, Sumanagara said. The joint project
itself may rely on project financing, once a financial study is
done, he said.
The company ended 2004 with Rp 2 trillion in cash, 4 percent
more than in 2003. The company's third processing plant will be
ready in 2006.
In 2004, Aneka Tambang's profit more than tripled to Rp 826.4
billion, or Rp 433.2 a share, from Rp 226.6 billion, or Rp 118.8
as demand for precious metals rose.
Sales rose 29 percent to Rp 2.76 trillion.