Antam books profit despite volatile commodity markets

State owned mining company PT Aneka Tambang (Antam) continued to book profits in the first semester of this year despite vitality in the world?s commodity markets.

Antam said that profits attributable to majority shareholders reached Rp 476 billion or Rp 49.97 per share thanks to improvement in cost efficiency, the company?s president director Alwinsyah Lubis said.

?The company still posted profit despite volatility in the world?s commodity markets. Cost efficiency program has become our main priority,? he said in a statement. Antam?s revenues from gold and nickel sales reached Rp 4.5 trillion in the first half of this year, with gold contributing 41 percent.

In the first semester, Antam also booked Rp 238 billion in dividend from PT Nusa Halmahea Minerals, an increase of 39 percent from the same period last year.

Alwinsyah said Antam?s expansion projects including the construction of the chemical grade alumina ( CGA) plant in Tayan, Kalimantan, ferronickel smelting plant in East Halmahera, the modernization of the ferronickel smelter in Pomalaa as well as the coal-fired power plant project in Pomalaa were all on track.

The completion rate of the CGA project reached 83 percent, the ferronickel smelting plant in Halmahera 25 percent and the power plant project in Pomalaa 22 percent, as of July, he said.

Editing by Adianto P. Simamora