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Kapuas Prima Coal begins trial for lead bullion production
The lead bullion smelter is one of seven metal smelters expected to begin operations this year.
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Kapuas Prima Coal's lead smelter in Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan, on Oct. 23, 2019. (PT Kapuas Prima Coal/PT Kapuas Prima Coal)
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ublicly listed base metal producer PT Kapuas Prima Coal (ZINC) started on Jan. 8 a production trial of its lead smelter in Central Kalimantan as mining firms work to fall in with the government's commodity downstreaming goals.
The US$15 million smelter is expected to produce 12,000 to 15,000 tons of lead bullion for the first year, generating $43 million in sales. ZINC subsidiary PT Kapuas Prima Citra will operate the smelter.
Kapuas Prima Citra president director Hendra William said in a statement on Tuesday that the company would export the lead bullion to China.
“Moving forward, we hope that we can expand the market, including the domestic market, in line with the ban on raw mineral exports and the government’s target to accelerate mineral downstream [industry development],” said Hendra, who is also a director at ZINC.
Smelter construction is part of the government’s larger scheme to foster downstreaming in extractive industries to grow the economy. To achieve this, regulators have permanently banned exports of nickel ore and plans to enact similar bans on bauxite and raw copper starting June 2023.
The lead smelter is one of seven smelters scheduled to start operations this year. Completion of the seven would bring Indonesia's total smelter fleet to 28 units by the end of this year.
Read also: Indonesia to have seven new smelters this year
