Singapore 24/05/2016 - Indonesia's PT Aneka Tambang (Antam) has restarted its No.2 electric smelting furnace (FeNi II) after completing repairs to the transformer unit.
Repairs to the unit during the first quarter of the year led to a 3.4-percent year-on-year decline in Antam's total ferronickel production to 4,357 tonnes in January-March.
Following the switch-on, Antam will gradually ramp up the load of the smelter to ensure operational safety and stability, the state-owned miner said late last week. The ramp-up period is expected to take 45 days, with first metal tapping to occur early in June.
Antam is targeting 20,000 tonnes of ferronickel production (nickel contained) this year from the three ferronickel smelters at its Pomalaa works in southeast Sulawesi, the company said.
It is also finalising the completion of its Pomalaa ferronickel plant expansion project, which will increase Antam’s ferronickel capacity to 27,000-30,000 tonnes per year (assuming nickel ore feed of 1.9 percent) from 18,000-20,000 tonnes per year.
The company is also aiming to complete the first stage of its Haltim ferronickel project at East Halmehera in Indonesia's Maluku province by 2018. This will increase Antam's ferronickel capacity by 13,500-15,000 tonnes per year.
In April, Antam and Germany's Cronimet Holding and Ferrostaal Industrial Projects signed an agreement to develop a ferronickel plant in Pomalaa.
Antam produced 17,211 tonnes of nickel contained in ferronickel in 2015.
(Editing by Mark Shaw)