Aurora Gold to increase output
Aurora Gold to increase output
JAKARTA (JP): Australia's mining company Aurora Gold Ltd plans
to increase the output of its Mount Muro gold and silver mine in
Central Kalimantan, the company said last week.
Company administration manager Hidayat S. Soenarto said over
the weekend the company would increase its mining output at Mount
Muro next year by 50 percent to 180 tons of silver and 7.2 tons
of gold.
The company operates a 720,000-hectare concession area in the
province in a joint venture, called PT Indo Muro Kencana, with PT
Gunung Muro Perkasa which has a 10 percent stake in the venture's
shares.
The concession, among the Third Generation of mineral
Contracts of Work (COWs) approved by the government in 1983,
started commercial production in 1995.
Hidayat said mining operations at Mount Muro had been
adversely affected by the current drought but he believed Indo
Muro could meet the production target of 120 tons of silver and
4.8 tons of gold this year.
He said the drought had reduced the level of the Barito River
making logistical supply through the river difficult for the last
several months.
"But, it has started to rain in Kalimantan now," Hidayat said.
Indo Muro sells 50 percent of its silver domestically to
support the country's silver industry but exports all its gold to
such countries as Singapore, Switzerland and Australia.
Hidayat also said that Aurora was planning to develop the Toka
Tindung gold deposit in the Likupang subdistrict, Minahasa, North
Sulawesi in a joint venture with PT Austindo Nusa Jaya,
controlled by the Tahija family.
The joint venture is 85-percent owned by Aurora and 15 percent
by Austindo.
Hidayat said the concession was part of the Fourth Generation
COWs which was approved by the government in 1990.
The consortium is currently conducting a study on the
project's environmental impact and would apply for a construction
license with the government by the end of the year, he said.
"We expect commercial production can start in mid-1999," he
said, adding the company would initially invest US$51.3 million
for production.
According to Hidayat, the Toka Tindung area has a proven
deposit of 1 million tons of gold per year. (jsk)