Antam nickel output drops 33%

State-owned mining company PT Aneka Tambang (ANTM) Tbk reported 33% drop in ferronickel output in the second quarter 2009 due to the production halt at FeNi III plant since May 2009. 

ANTM expects the plant to resume operation in September 2009. ANTM also reported 27% drop in high grade nickel ore to 913,206 WMT. During the quarter, ANTM reported 36% drop in nickel ore to 2.347 million wmt.Bauxite sales also dropped 74% to 87,800 tons. 

Gold sales, meanwhile, jumped 93% in second quarter compared to the previous quarter, but for the first half 2006, gold sales actually declined 36% from the same period last year. 

As a result, ANTM reported 16% decline in sales revenue to Rp4.396 trillion in H1 2009. Domestic sales of gold skyrocketed by 244% to Rp1.33 trillion in the period, and that had helped ANTM in fill the gap of falling revenue from nickel and bauxite. 

In contrast to its operational performance, ANTM stock price has surged 84% in the second quarter. 

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Cita Mineral falls with bauxite

PT Cita Mineral (CITA) Tbk reported net loss of Rp13.7 billion in the first quarter 2009 due to the fall of both volume and prices of bauxite ore. 

Cita Mineral reported strong results last year, with net profit of Rp157 billion, surged 141% from 2007 on stronger sales revenue of 56% to RP1.32 trillion or about US$132 million.

But things changed significantly with the commodities fall in the world market. Cita Mineral only booked sales revenue of Rp62.4 billion in the first quarter 2009, crashed 78% from the same period last year. Last year, the company sold 5.6 million tons of bauxite ore or about 460,000 tons per month. But in Q1 2009, the company only managed to sell 230,000 tons of bauxite ore or about 76,000 tons per month.

Still, the company was optimistic that it would still book net profit this year. CITA is rarely traded in IDX. The stock is currently quoted at Rp750 or a market capitalization of around US$83 million. CITA is controlled by Red Eastern Shipping & Mining Pte Ltd, Singapore (51%), Richburg Enterprises Pte Ltd, Singapore (21.66%), and PT Surjaputra Inti Mulia (19.14%).

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