Antam earnings plunge

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed mining company PT Aneka Tambang (Antam) announced a nearly 60 percent drop to Rp 122.13 billion in its unaudited net earnings in the Jan. to Sept. period from Rp 282.05 billion in the same period last year.

Antam's unaudited net sales also plunged to Rp 592.6 billion from Rp 841.5 billion in the first nine months of last year, partly due to the strengthening of the rupiah to the U.S. dollar.

The company said the average rupiah exchange rate fell to Rp 9,815 per U.S. dollar in the third quarter from Rp 10,469 in the same period last year.

The company's ferronickel output in the third quarter dropped to 6,361 tons from 6,944, while its realized sales fell to 5,647 tons from Rp 6,787 tons.

The average price of the company's ferronickel rose to $2.43 per net metric ton from $2.10.

The company said its gold output rose to 1,842 kilograms from 1,258 kilograms in the same period, while the average price for gold was $268.55 per troy once as compared to $293.98 per troy ounce in the third quarter of last year. (06)