On Monday, April 5, Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd informed about the fire accident, which occurred on Saturday, April 3, at its 80%-owned subsidiary Press Metal Bintulu Sdn Bhd's (PM Bintulu) smelting plant within the Samalaju Industrial Park. However, the cause of the fire has not been specified in the report.
Press Metal Bintulu is principally engaged in the manufacturing of aluminium products. The fire incident occurred at the new Phase 3 operations of the Samalaju Smelter, which is primarily under commissioning. The fire damaged one of the three hundred smelting pots located at the plant but not caused harm to any persons or other existing production facilities at the Samalaju Smelter.
However, the operations at Phase 3 restored within several hours of the fire set. Press Metal said, "There was minimal interruption and the installation ramp-up of the smelting line in Phase 3 will recommence immediately after the damaged pot is repaired within the next few days. There is no material financial and operational impact on the operations of the Samalaju Smelter arising from this incident as the operations in Phase 3 were restored within several hours and all assets are adequately covered by insurance.”
At 9.01am today, Press Metal’s share price fell 14 sen or 1.39 per cent to RM9.92, with a market value of about RM40.08 billion.