State-owned diversified miner PT Aneka Tambang (Antam) has obtained a new recommendation for nickel and bauxite exports in line with its plans to boost production and sales of the commodities this year.
Antam announced on Wednesday that the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry had granted the company a one-year recommendation to export 2.7 million wet metric tons (wmt) of low-grade nickel ore with a 1.7 percent minimum nickel content and 840,000 wmt of washed bauxite with an aluminum oxide content of 42 percent or more.
A year ago in March 2017, Antam had obtained a one-year recommendation to export 2.7 million wmt of low-grade nickel ore and 850,000 wmt of washed bauxite. The company secured another one-year recommendation last October to export 1.2 million wmt of low-grade nickel ore.
“Antam's exports of nickel and bauxite ore will support our mineral processing activities that have been running since 1974, in line with the operations of our FeNi I ferronickel plant [in Pomalaa, Southeast Sulawesi],” Antam president director Arie Prabowo Ariotedjo said in a statement on Wednesday.
Last year, Antam exported a total 2.73 million wmt of low-grade nickel ore and 766,000 wmt of washed bauxite, contributing around Rp 735 billion (US$51.45 million) to the government’s tax and non-tax revenues.
Antam aims to produce 11.25 million wmt and sell 9.3 million wmt of nickel ore in 2018, while its bauxite production and sales target both stand at 1.6 million wmt.