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tate-owned mining company PT Antam has reopened its nickel mine and processing facility on Maniang Island, Southeast Sulawesi, after substandard ore led the company to halt operations in 2009.

Teddy Badrujaman, a senior executive of the company’s local unit, Antam UBPN Pomalaa, said the nickel mine had historic value for the company as it had been working the site since 1959.

“We’re reopening Maniang Island for the third time. We halted production previously because its nickel content was below international standards,” Teddy said as quoted by Antara news agency.

When PT Antam began operations in Maniang, the nickel content of the ore extracted from the site, originally only 100 hectares large, met international standards, however, after the company began to export nickel from the mine, its quality declined to below international standards, he added.

The firm, which has been publicly listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange since 1997, also operates nickel mines at Pomalaa and Tapunopaka, Southeast Sulaewesi; and Tanjung Buli, North Maluku.

PT Antam’s senior executive for operations, Dadang Hadipratomo, said that there were no mining activities on the island since the company halted production in 2009.

Dadang added the operation would resume after the company was able to bring to bear new technology to process existing nickel ore.

PT Antam, one of the nation’s largest mining company, engages principally in nickel and gold mining.

The company recently said that its ferronickel production rose 9.4 percent to 19,690 tons in 2011, while its gold production declined to 2,667 kg in 2011 due to a lower grade of gold ores.

Antam also recently announced that its unaudited consolidated net profits increased 13.5 percent to Rp 1.91 trillion (US$210 million) in 2011, up from Rp 1.68 trillion in 2010.

The company expects its full audit results to be available by the end of March at the latest.

“Our 2011 results reflect a significant production and sales increase due to higher sales of our main commodities. Last year also saw the commencement of our long-term strategic initiative in line with the start of the construction of the US$450 million Tayan Chemical Grade Alumina project and the $1.6 billion East Halmahera Ferronickel Project,” Antam’s president director Alwinsyah Lubis said.

“We are confident the financial and operational performance of the company in 2012 will remain solid and continue to deliver strong shareholders’ returns,” Alwinsyah added.

In 2011, Antam’s unaudited sales recorded an increase of 18 percent to Rp 10.3 trillion, mainly due to an increase in the sales of ferronickel, nickel ore and gold.

Ferronickel was the largest contributor to Antam’s 2011 revenue, contributing 36 percent of total revenue or an equivalent amount of Rp 3.7 trillion.