P

ublicly-listed coal mining company PT Resource Alam Indonesia plans to set aside US$4 million for capital expenditures (capex) next year to finance the construction of new infrastructure facilities.

“The funding will come from our internal cash,” Resource Alam Indonesia head of investor relations Eric Tirtana said during his company’s public expose here on Friday.

Eric said that the expenditure was relatively low because contractors working with his company also budgeted spending for mining development. He said that most of the capital expenditure would be used to finance the construction of a new jetty and broaden the existing jetties.

The company plans to build the new jetty, which will be called Segara, with a coal stockpile capacity of 300,000 metric tons in an area of 14 hectares in East Kalimantan.

“Segara will support the operation in our concession in the South block,” Eric said.

The company currently has five integrated jetties along the Mahakam River in East Kalimantan. The company is carrying out development of new crushing plant facility in one of the existing jetties called Loa Duri. The project is scheduled to be completed in the first half of 2012 and will enable the company a total crushing capacity of 10.9 million tons per year, up from 7.7 million presently.

Resources Alam Indonesia has a total of 24,477 hectares of mining concessions in East Kalimantan.

The company booked a net profit of Rp 345 billion (around $37 million) in the first nine month of the year, increasing by about 194 percent from Rp 117 billion in the same period last year. Resource Alam aims to reach Rp 413.2 billion in net profit by the end of the year.

Resource Alam Indonesia produced 3.2 million metric tons of coal up to the third quarter of this year and hopes to exceed the production target of 3.55 million by the end of the year.

“We aim to reach 6 million metric tons in coal production in 2012,” Eric said.

According to Eric, 91.1 percent of Resource Alam Indonesia’s coal is exported, with China being the primary market. The company also supplies coal for state electricity utility PLN. “Last year we supplied about 500,000 tons,” Eric said, adding that this year his company had not yet inked a deal with PLN. (rcf)