Want to Explore, Antam Prepares IDR 11 Trillion in Capital

Rupiah (photo: dock. Antara)

JAKARTA - PT Aneka Tambang Tbk (ANTM) has prepared a budget of at least 723 million or around IDR 11.2 trillion for nickel, gold, and bauxite reserve enhancement activities.

Aneka Tambang General Manager Abdul Bari said the budget will be used to finance exploration activities for the next 5 years.

"This is a forecast plan for how we achieve 15-20 percent of the mandate submitted by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources," he said as quoted on Tuesday, November 26.

According to him, regardless of the current global exploration spending trend, ANTM is committed to optimizing the budget by increasing exploration spending in the 5-year plan.

Not only that, he continued, ANTM is also trying to maintain the exploration budget to revenue ratio (PER) above 1 percent of total production revenue.

For gold resources, he continued, until 2029 Antam is targeting an increase of up to 15 percent in five years with gold reserves of 10 percent.

Then for nickel, ANTM is targeting a 15 percent increase with 26 percent of the National Reserve Ownership. While bauxite, it is targeted that there will be a 15 percent increase with a reserve of 15 percent.

On the same occasion, Bari also said that there will be a mine acquisition that will be carried out in the near future.

This state-owned mining issuer, he said, will conduct exploration to acquire mines, both domestic mine acquisitions and abroad.

However, Abdul was reluctant to provide leaks regarding the location of the gold mine that would be acquired.

"We can't say the area yet, it's the Indonesian region. When it's called a corporate action, we can't convey everything," continued Bari.

Bari also said that to carry out the acquisition, his party had studied various prospects. Abdul also said that one of the steps that ANTM would take was to participate in an auction held by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM). This is intended to increase ANTM's gold reserves in the future.