Atlas aims to double production volume

JAKARTA: Coal miner PT Atlas Resources (ARII) expects to double its production volume to 2.4 million tons this year, in order to cope with declining coal prices, a company executive says.

“The price drop will surely affect the company’s profits this year. We will increase our production so that the impact of the lower price will not affect this year’s profits,” said Atlas Resources’ finance director, Dono Boestami, on Friday.

He said the targeted production volume would mostly come from the Hub Muba mine in South Sumatra.

“Hub Muba has coal reserves of up to 95 million tons, while the resource itself is up to 314 million tons,” said Dono.

The company acquired three new concessions earlier this year; namely, Karya Borneo Agung and Bara Karya Agung, which are located in Hub Kubar, East Kalimantan; and Ratna Utama Karya, located near Berau Bara Energy in East Kalimantan, in order to meet the production volume target.

“With the newly acquired concessions and our non-stop explorations, we will definitely meet the target this year,” he added.

The company has allocated US$68 million for this year’s capital expenditure, of which $25 million has been used to develop infrastructure and facilities for the new concessions, including the construction of a 130-kilometers hauling road for their mining site at Hub Muba, South Sumatra.