New ore plants to be built in Indonesia
19/8/2008 17:40
Three new iron ore plants will be built in Indonesia's South Kalimantan
province in a bid to meet rising global demand for the product, the Jakarta Post
reported in Jakarta today.
The plants will be built by Meratus Jaya inc.,
Semeru Surya inc. , Steel and Mandan Steel inc. with investments of US$300
million, Director of the Indonesian Industrial Ministry I Gusti Putu
Suryawirawan said.
"Meratus and Mandan will build a US$60-million and a
US$220-million plant in Tanah Bumbu regency respectively, while Semeru will
build a US$40-million plant in Tanah Laut regency, all in South Kalimantan," he
told the post.
Meratus is a joint venture company, co-owned by state-
controlled mining firm PT Aneka Tambang and state-owned steel producer Krakatau
Steel inc., while Semeru is a subsidiary of steel producer Gunung Garuda
Group.
Mandan Steel is wholly owned by a Hong Kong steel manufacturer which
imports iron ore from Indonesia, and will be the only foreign company in the
Indonesian iron ore processing industry.
The director said Meratus and Semeru
would respectively produce 315,000 and 300,000 tons of sponge iron annually,
while Mandan Steel would yield 1 million tons of billet iron each
year.
Meratus is scheduled to start construction in November, he
said.
"Mandan will have to wait for (processing plant) designs, which are
being formulated in its home country, before beginning construction -- likely to
take place in February 2009," said Suryawirawan.
Indonesia produces 2 million
tons ore per year.
Iron prices rose by 50 percent in the global market in the
first semester this year, from a year earlier.
Xinhua
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