Antam expects to get $120m loan

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed general mining company PT Aneka Tambang (Antam) expects to obtain a US$120 million loan from the German-based IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG to boost its nickel production capacity to 24,000 tons from it current 11,000 tons, a company executive said.

The company's president Dedi Aditya Sumanagara told reporters on Thursday that the loan would partly finance the expansion of its smelter, under its FeNi III project in Pomalaa, Southeast Sulawesi.

Antam hopes the loan will be disbursed in June this year, he said.

"We certainly need the loan to increase our production capacity to meet increasing demands," he said, adding that the German bank had already carried out its assessment of Antam's financial capability to repay the loan.

Spokesman Dohar Siregar told The Jakarta Post that the loan would be part of the $210 million needed to finance the expansion.

He said the other $100 million would come from other sources, including the company itself.

Dohar said the company selected German-based Tessag AG to construct the smelter through an open bidding which was held early last year.

The expansion will enable Antam to fulfill a 10-year contract to deliver 7,000 metric tons of nickel to South Korea and 8,000 tons to Germany.

Antam produced approximately 10,100 tons of nickel in 2000, up 4 percent from the previous year.

While its gold production rose 38 percent to reach about 4,000 tons last year from 2,900 tons in 1999.

The company exports its nickel mostly to Germany, Korea, Taiwan and Japan, and its gold to Singapore, Korea and Hong Kong.(05)