Antam to get US$292.5m loan from JBIC for Tayan project

State nickel and gold miner PT Aneka Tambang expects to secure US$292.5 million loan from Japan Bank for International Cooporation (JBIC) to build a Chemical Grade Alumina (CGA) plant at Tayan sub-district in West Kalimantan.

Djaja Tambunan, Aneka Tambang Finance Director, was quoted by Kontan daily as saying that the withdrawal of the loan will be done in stages. The first withdrawal is scheduled to be done at the end of this month. However, he declined to disclose the value of the first disbursement.

Antam develop the project through a joint venture company called PT Indonesia Chemical Alumina. It will team up with Japanese firm Showa Denko in developing the project.

The CGA Tayan project requires an investment of up to US$450 million. Infrastructure projects have been started since last April.

The project is scheduled to commence commercial operation in January 2014, with production capacity of 300,000 tons of bauxite per annum. (*)