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PrintVale Indonesia, the country’s largest nickel producer, has set its net income target at $112 million this year, according to a document presented during a hearing with members of the House of Representatives Commission VII overseeing mineral affairs.
The local outfit of Brazil’s Vale targets production of 79,691 metric tons of nickel matte this year, a slight increase from last year’s target of 79,500 tons, which is set to be missed due to operational disruption in the fourth quarter, the document showed.
“We expect to book sales of $1 billion, assuming that the price at the London Metal Exchange averaged $16,000,” Vale Indonesia president director Nico Kanter said at the parliament building.
The company may have missed its target of $213.6 million in net income last year due to a sharp decline in nickel prices, according to Nico.
The average nickel price for last year was $15,000, down from an average of $17,374 in 2012.
He said the price of nickel is projected to recover this year thanks to the government’s decision to ban exports of unprocessed nickel ore, but trends for the first few months still showed price fluctuations.
“China, the largest buyer of nickel, is still waiting to see signs on wether Indonesia will be consistent on the ban,” Nico said.
Vale Indonesia plans to invest $4 billion to build a new refinery as well as expanding its existing plant, he said.
Vale is currently renegotiating its contract with the government. Nico said the new contract may be signed in the first quarter of this year, with the company preparing to cut the size of its operational area by as much as 44 percent.
Vale has a contract over 190,512 hectares in South, Central and Southeast Sulawesi.
The company is expected to face the ore export ban relatively unharmed as it has refined most of its output, unlike state-controlled miner, Antam, which will face difficult times ahead.
Jakarta-based Antam is expected to see a sharp decline in nickel ore output this year, according to its president director Tato Miraza.
Nickel ore output of 1.44 million tons is expected this year, a decline from 11.52 million tons last year. This will only suffice as feedstock for Antam’s nickel refinery plan.
This means Antam will lose a sizeable source of revenue.
“Exports of nickel ores accounted for 36 percent of our revenue last year,” Tato said in the hearing.
Antam planned to boost the sales of gold by 44 percent to 13,6 tons and ferronickel by 39 percent to 20,000 tons of ferronickel, he said.Avoiding the Crunch The country’s largest nickel producer likely to be unaffected by the government’s ban on mineral exports.
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