TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Mining company PT Aneka Tambang (Persero) Tbk, better known as Antam, might revise its 2013 capital expenditure (capex) budget if the gold price continues to decline. Antam director Djaja Tambunan said the company will be watching market trends to decide whether or not a capex revision is necessary.

After Antam's annual general meeting of shareholders, April 30, Djaja said the gold price had declined from US$1,700 per troy ounce to $1,450 per troy ounce and had forced the company to prepare a number of strategies. But Djaja said the company is not in a hurry to revise its capex as it is still pushing for cost efficiencies. The company also sees that gold prices has been showing signs of recovery, albeit slowly.

Antam allotted Rp5 trillion for this year's capex and set its gold sales volume target at 7.6 tons.

Previously, an economist from PT Samuel Sekuritas Indonesia, Lana Soelistianingsih, projected that gold prices would not improve in May. "Especially since the commodity price has not improved," he said.

Gold prices began to drop in the beginning of the last week of April. After closing at Rp537,000 per gram on April 26, the price of gold at Antam's Precious Metals Processing and Sales Business Unit was pegged at Rp533,000 per gram yesterday, April 30.

An analyst from BNI Securities, Thendra Crisnanda, said that Antam's decision is reasonable because the mining sector is experiencing a slowdown. "Antam could run two strategies to increase its revenue: by improving the company's efficiency and building domestic mining and mineral refinery centers," he suggested.

GUSTIDHA BUDIARTIE | RR ARIYANI