T

he government has asked state-controlled diversified miner PT Aneka Tambang (Antam) to accelerate its downstream projects to help provide more added value mineral products to the country.

Speaking to reporters following a meeting with the company'€™s board of directors in Jakarta on Friday, State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Rini Soemarno said the company should carefully prepare its downstream projects so no projects would be delayed.

'€œI want a progress report on the projects to be submitted [to me] as soon as possible. Several downstream projects have been delayed and I want them to determine which projects should be prioritized,'€ she said.

Antam is currently constructing a number of mineral processing plants. Among the firm'€™s mega-downstream projects is a ferronickel smelter in East Halmahera (North Maluku), a smelter-grade alumina refinery in Mempawah (West Kalimantan) and an anode slime project.

The firm previously estimated that the three projects would require around US$1.6 billion, $1.7 billion and $100 million, respectively.

Antam previously proposed Rp 7 trillion ($541.04 million) in capital injection from the government to help finance the three mega projects, but the House of Representatives had only agreed to grant them Rp 3.5 trillion. The disbursement of the stimulus is still awaiting approval from House Commission VI, which oversees SOEs and industry, and a presidential decree.

Antam corporate secretary Tri Hartono said previously that his firm planned to conduct the rights issue in the third quarter of this year to benefit from the government'€™s capital injection.

Under its corporate plan, Antam will raise around Rp 5.38 trillion from the rights issue, of which about Rp 3.5 trillion will come from the government '€” as the realization of the capital injection plan '€” while the remaining Rp 1.88 trillion will come from the investing public.

Rini said she estimated that the rights issue would be carried out in June or July this year.

Tri told The Jakarta Post previously that with only half of his firm'€™s proposed stimulus approved by the House, his firm would prioritize which projects would be carried out first.

Antam announced in January that it had acquired technology to turn anode slime into gold that was expected to boost the firm'€™s gold production.

The move is also expected to benefit the country, given that Indonesia usually exported its anode slime to other countries because of the unavailability of technology to process the raw material.

Antam has also revealed that it will partner with state aluminum producer PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum) to commence the construction of the smelter-grade alumina project in Mempawah.

Inalum president director Sahala Hasoloan Sijabat told the Post that the two companies would build a joint venture for the project, in which Inalum would own a minority stake in the venture.

Antam'€™s shares are listed on the bourse under the code ANTM. It booked Rp 775.29 billion in net loss last year, a contrast to the Rp 409.95 billion in net profit it reaped in 2013. The company attributed the loss to the commodity price slump and ban on raw mineral exports last year.