Asian Metal visits ANTAM, Harita Mining, Well Harvest Winning, Dinamika, and Laman Mining, etc.

From December 13 to 15, Friday Gao, Asian Metal's Senior Analyst and Base Metal Department Manager, visited PT. ANTAM (Persero) Tbk, PT. Harita Mining, PT. Well Harvest Winning Alumina Refinery, Association Pengusaha Bauxite & Bijih Besi Indonesia, PT. Borneo Industri Terpadu, PT. Bino Artomas Mineral, PT Dinamika Sejahtera Mandiri, Laman Mining, PT. Sanmas Mekar Abadi, Mekko Metal Mining and other companies in Indonesia.

On December 13, Mr. Gao firstly visited ANTAM and met with Bambang Wijanarko, Vice General Manager of Base Metal Marketing, Muhammad Nabil, Bauxite Sales Manager, Martana, Alumina Sales Manager, and Muhammad Issa, Analyst of the company.

The company has gotten export quota for bauxite of 850,000t this year and plans to apply for the same amount again next April. The company has a capacity of 300,000tpy of chemical grade alumina currently and plans to jointly build a metallurgical grade alumina plant in Kalimantan Barat with a Chinese company.

Mr. Nabil spoke highly of the bauxite and alumina market information provided by Asian Metal and showed interest in attending the 9th World Aluminum Raw Summit to be held by Asian Metal in Jinan, Shandong of China, on May 17-18, 2018.

Later on, Mr. Gao visited Association Pengusaha Bauxite & Bijih Besi Indonesia and had a conversation with Erry Sofyan, Association Chairman. Mr. Erry revealed that Indonesia has a proved bauxite reserves of about 3 billion tons currently with annual aluminum demand of approximately 800,000t, which is expected to increase to 2 million tons in 10 years. At present, there is only one small primary aluminum plant with capacity of 250,000tpy in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, he pointed out that Indonesia has issued export quota for bauxite of about 14 million tons so far this year and plans to increase the figure to 25-30 million tons in 2018.

Mr. Erry expressed strong interest in the 9th World Aluminum Raw Summit to be held by Asian Metal next May and showed intention of giving a presentation on Indonesian bauxite at the summit.

On that afternoon, Friday Gao visited PT. Bino Artomas Mineral and talked with Eddy Darmawang, General Manager, concerning the bauxite market. According to Eddy, the company plans to apply for bauxite export quota of 3 million tons in 2018.

On the morning of December 14, Mr. Gao firstly visited PT. Well Harvest Winning Alumina Refinery and exchanged views on alumina market with Chen Hongli, Sales Director. According to Mr. Chen, the company's Indonesian plant produces high-quality alumina which sells well in China, with SiO2, Fe2O3 and Na2O content indicator superior to international one.

The company is running at capacity of 1,000,000tpy of alumina and expects to put the phase II project of 1,000,000tpy into production in late 2018.

Later on, Mr. Gao visited PT. Harita Mining and talked with Sudirman Utomo, Bauxite Sales Manager, about the bauxite import market in China and bauxite supply in Indonesia.

According to Mr. Sudirman, they have gotten bauxite export quota of 3.5 million tons this year and are likely to get the same export quota in March 2018. The company produced about 350t of bauxite in 2017 and its monthly output could reach about 2 million tons before the export of bauxite was banned in Indonesia.

Mr. Sudirman spoke highly of Asian Metal's market information and looked forward to attending the 9th World Aluminum Raw Summit to be held by Asian Metal next May.

On the afternoon of December 14, Mr. Gao visited PT. Borneo Industri Terpadu and exchanged views on bauxite market with Darwin Simon, General Manager, and Andi Wijaya, Sales Director.

The company owns a 40,000-hectare bauxite mining area in Central Kalimantan and produces bauxite with Al2O3 and Si2O3 content of 47-50% and 4-9% respectively. The company is seeking Chinese company for investing in and building alumina and primary aluminum plants. Mr. Andi revealed that Central Kalimantan is rich in bauxite and coal resources and is an ideal target for building alumina and primary aluminum refinery.

On December 15, Mr. Gao visited Laman Mining and met with Soehendro Gautama, Board Chairman, and Beni Bevly, General Manager. Mr. Gao introduced China's current demand for imported bauxite and the demand growth in later period.

The company got bauxite export quota of 2.85 million tons this year and holds about 200 million tons of bauxite reserves in West Kalimantan. In addition, the company plans to build an alumina refinery with annual capacity of 2 million tons.