Harita Held Groundbreaking Ceremony Of Alumina Smelter In West Kalimantan

Egenius Soda
egen@majalahtambang.com

Ketapang – TAMBANG. Harita Group, a national mining company, has forged a partnership with PT Well Harvest Winning Alumina Refinery (WHW) to build an alumina smelter in Kendawangan, Ketapang, West Kalimantan Province. The groundbreaking ceremony was held yesterday (17/7).

“The total investment value for project is about US$1 billion. The smelter will be built in 2 phases. The first phase will be able to accommodate 1 million ton of capacity per year, and hopefully can start its operation by 2015. For the second phase we will add the capacity up to 2 million ton in total, scheduled to operate in 2017” explained Lie Feng Hai, President Director of PT WHW.

Meanwhile, CEO of Harita Group, Lim Gunawan Haryanto, expressed his contentment of the smelting project. “China Hong Qiao is the majority stock holder in WHW. However, Harita owns 25% [of PT WHW]. We are proud to successfully bring foreign investor to build a smelter here in Indonesia, because building a smelter is an expensive project,” he asserted.

Harita Group, through its subsdiary PT Cita Mineral Investindo, Tbk., owns 25% shares of PT WHW. Other stockholders, aside from China Hong Qiao as majority owner, includes Wining Investment (HK) Ltd, and PT Danpac Resources Kalbar Investment.

With regards to the project financing, PT Cita Mineral Investindo, Tbk. has prepared the fund, of which 30% will be obtained from the company’s internal cash. “The other 70% will be acquired from third parties, such as banks or other sources,” Liem Hok Seng, Executive Director of PT Cita Mineral Investindo, Tbk. told.

The smelting facility will process bauxite into alumina, which will then be used for domestic alumina needs, especially for PT Inalum in North Sumatera.

Vice Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Susilo Siswoutomo, who attended the ceremony said that the government appreciated Harita’s initiative to build a smelting facility. Smelting facility is one of the mandatory requirements articulated in the Mining Law (Law No. 4/2009). “The government fully supports the smelting facility construction. If it is necessary, the government might also provide some incentives, by exempting import duty for imported heavy equipment as an example,” Susilo Siswoutomo claimed.

Other government representatives attending the ceremony include Thamrin Sihite, Director General of Mineral and Coal – Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources; Panggah Susanto, Director General of Basic Industry and Manufacturing – Ministry of Industry; Christiandy Sanjaya, Deputy Governor of West Kalimantan Province; Boyman Harun, Deputy Regent of Ketapang Regency.[]