|
Jakarta, May,
12, 2008. PT. Antam Tbk &
Jindal Stainless Limited have
today signed a Joint
Venture Agreement to develop a nickel smelting and
stainless steel facility
in North Konawe, South East Sulawesi. Antam will
have a 55% interest in
the project with Jindal owning a 45% share.
Initially the project is
planned to have a capacity of around 20,000 tonnes
per annum (tpa) of
contained nickel in ferronickel and around 250,000
tpa
for stainless steel,
mainly the high quality 300 Series. Based on a
proposed
market survey to be
commissioned soon, the final end product may be
stainless steel slabs or
possibly stainless steel long products.
Antam
will contribute its mining and nickel processing
expertise as well as
its local knowledge and
experience while Jindal will contribute its
stainless
steel processing and
marketing expertise as well as its global marketing
network for the sales
and distribution of the joint venture’s products.
The integrated project
shall process nickel ore from Antam’s Mandiodo
concession, which has an
average nickel grade of about 1.5%. In addition
to nickel smelting and
stainless steel, the facility will also include its
own
coal-based captive power
plant, water treatment plant, seaport and other
necessary infrastructure
including residential facilities for its employees.
This project may be the
first time any where in the world where a stainless
steel processing mill is
located together with a nickel plant and mine. This
arrangement may result
in very significant cost savings and shall make the
venture highly
competitive. Total investment is estimated at about
USD
700 Million which will
be funded with an optimum mix of Debt and
Equity.
A Joint Team between the
Companies is getting formed to establish the
Joint Venture Company
which may be called as PT. Antam Jindal Stainless
Indonesia. Construction
activities of the Complex may start from early of
2009. The Complex is
expected to be commissioned by middle of 2011.
For Antam, this project
is part of its business strategy of product
diversification to
improve shareholders’ value. This project also helps
the
industrial development
of Indonesia as it involves the processing of
natural
resources within the
country, creating maximum value compared to simply
exporting ore.
As for Jindal, who
already have a Stainless Steel Cold Rolling Complex
in
Indonesia for several
years, the development of the project is part of
their
business strategy to
become one of the leading player in the Stainless
Steel
industry globally.
###
|
