Indonesia has been importing smelter-grade alumina to meet domestic demand.
The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Smelter-grade alumina (SGA) producer PT Well Harvest Winning (WHW) has produced more than 2 million metric tons of SGA since June 2016, or the month of their SGA refinery's maiden operation, which is the sole refinery of its kind in the country.
WHW public relations executive Hen Roliya said that 98.5 percent of the production was exported and the remaining was for state energy holding PT Inalum, which needs SGA to produce their aluminum ingot.
"We have been selling [our SGA] to Inalum, which is 1.5 percent of our production. [...] And there will be a increase of sales to Inalum in November to 28,000 metric tons of SGA," she told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Inalum bought 31,179 metric tons of SGA from WHW in December 2017 and February 2018.
Previously, Inalum managing director Oggy A. Kosasih said in a press statement that the firm needed 500,000 metric tons of alumina per annum to produce 250,000 metric tons of aluminum ingot. “We have been importing alumina to date to produce aluminum ingot,” he said.
Inalum plans to build its own SGA refinery, which is expected to start operating in 2021 and cost more than US$850 million.
WHW is a joint venture company between China-based investment holding firm China Hongqiao Group Limited as the major shareholder and Jakarta-based mining firm PT Cita Mineral Investindo (CITA) as well as two other China-based firms. (evi)
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