Singapore 03/11/2015 - Ferronickel at Indonesia's PT Aneka Tambang (Antam) fell 17.8 percent year-on-year to 3,396 tonnes of contained nickel in the third quarter, it said.
Still, ferronickel production rose 9.6 percent year-on-year to 12,838 tonnes of contained nickel in the first nine months of the year, the Indonesian state-owned nickel and gold miner and producer said in its latest quarterly report.
The year-to-date growth is due to increases in quantity and grade of ore feedstock mined from the Pomalaa and Pakal Island nickel mines, Antam said.
The increase in production enabled the the company to grow its ferronickel sales by four percent year-on-year to 13,388 tonnes of contained nickel in the first nine months of the year. Its main sales destinations during the period were China, South Korea and Europe.
Antam did not provide a reason for the decline in third-quarter output.
Antam's unaudited revenues totalled 9.04 trillion rupiah ($667 million) in January-September, up 56 percent year-on-year on a significant increase in gold sales. Its third-quarter revenue, however, fell 75.4 percent year-on-year to 214.32 billion rupiah.
(Editing by Mark Shaw)