TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A smelter grade alumina currently being built in Mempawah, West Kalimantan is targeted to start operating in 2019. The project is a collaboration between two state miners Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum) and Aneka Tambang (Antam) and China's aluminum producer Aluminum Corporation of China Limited (Chinalco).
The project is estimated to worth US$1.8 billion (Rp252 trillion).
"We are trying to obtain Chinalco's technology," Inalum president director Winardi Sunoto said in Jakarta Wednesday, December 16, 2015.
The three companies signed the cooperation agreement in Hong Kong on Saturday last week, witnessed by Indonesia's SOE Minister Rini Soemarno.
Inalum, Antam and Chinalco agreed to establish a joint venture, with Inalum and Antam as the controlling shareholder with 51 percent stake. The cooperation kicked off with a feasibility study for the project over the next six months.
The smelter is targeted to purify up to 2 million tons of minerals a year.
ROBBY IRFANY
