Antam Targets Increased Sales Of Bauxit And Alumina

JAKARTA - PT Aneka Tambang Tbk (ANTAM) targets the positive production and sales performance of the bauxite and alumina segments in 2023. Along with the ban on the export of bauxite ore which will take effect in 2023, the Company focuses on developing the sale of bauxite ore in the domestic market.

"The company also optimizes in terms of proper and efficient cash cost operations and management to achieve the target by 2023," the management wrote in a statement quoted on Saturday, February 25.

For bauxite ore commodities, ANTAM targets production volume in 2023 of 2 million wet metric tons (wmt) in accordance with the level of bauxite needs of Tayan's Chemical Grade Alumina (CGA) plant and the projected sale of bauxite ore to third-party customers.

This production target grew by around 21 percent compared to the achievement of unaudited production of bauxite ore in 2022 of 1.65 million wmt. Regarding the sale of bauxite ore, the Company targets a sales rate of 1.58 million wmt, an increase of 27% compared to the achievement of unaudited sales of bauxite ore in 2022 of 1.24 million wmt.

In line with ANTAM's strategy in optimizing CGA Tayan's factory operations and increasing sales volume of alumina products, in 2023 the Company, through the Subsidiary, PT Indonesia Chemical Alumina (PT ICA), targets an alumina production and sales rate of 131 thousand wmt each, growing 4 percent from the alumina production and sales target in 2022 of 126 thousand wmt, respectively.

Alumina unaudited production in 2022 reached 120 percent and alumina unaudited sales reached 114 percent of the 2022 target.

Strengthening the performance of the bauxite and alumina segments in 2022 is also reflected in PT ICA's financial ability to repay the entire principal of bank loans of 3.52 billion Japanese Yen (equivalent to 25.95 million US dollars).

Through efforts to operate best practices in the bauxite mining line and operations of alumina factories supported by efforts to develop domestic and foreign customer bases, the bauxite and alumina segments will increasingly provide positive value for ANTAM.

"In terms of the development of downstreaming of bauxite commodities, the Company is currently focusing on the construction of the Smelter Grade Alumina Refinery (SGAR) factory in Mempawah, West Kalimantan, which was developed together with PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminum (Persero) with a processing capacity of 1 million tons SGAR per year," concluded Antam's management.