Mining activities in operational areas of Amman Mineral Internasional.
Amman Mineral Internasional, an Indonesian listed mining company backed by billionaires Anthoni Salim and Agus Projosasmito, says it plans to increase its capital expenditure this year by 31.5% to $2 billion to boost copper and gold output amid recent gains in the price of the metals.
The figure was stated in a release by the company on Wednesday that reported full-year results for 2023, during which capex was $1.52 billion. Amman operates Indonesia’s second largest copper and gold mine.
The company said much of the spending would be on key projects: $530 million for a processing plant expansion, $438 million to construct a 450 megawatt gas and steam power plant with supporting LNG facilities, and $415 million to complete a copper smelter. The remaining funds will go towards building supporting infrastructure including a new townsite, port, processing plant expansion, and sustaining capital expenditures.
The processing plant expansion will double the firm's production capacity to 85 million tonnes per year, as it will receive future ore supply from its Batu Hijau and Elang mines located on Sumbawa Island in West Nusa Tenggara.
The firm plans to complete construction of its 900,000-ton-per-year copper smelter in May. Once operational, the smelter will annually produce up to 222,000 tonnes of copper cathode, 830,000 tonnes of sulfuric acid, 18 tonnes of gold bars, 55 tonnes of silver bars, and 70 tonnes of selenium. After completing construction, the firm will spend four to five months on smelter commissioning and production ramp-up to produce the first refined copper metals.
Amman said it aims to increased copper production by 46% to 456 million pounds of copper and more than double its gold output to slightly over one million ounces of gold this year, driven by the fresh ore that will be mined and processed from phase 7 of its Batu Hijau mine.
Amman’s net profit tumbled 76% to $259 million in 2023 as revenue declined 28% to $2.03 billion last year due to unfavourable whether conditions and increasing compliance costs amid regulatory changes.
Amman went public on the Indonesia Stock Exchange last July and raised $710 million. Projosasmito, currently the president commissioner of Amman, has a minority stake in the company. Along with his interests in oil and gas company Medco Energy International and coal miner Bumi Resources, Projosasmito's holdings generated a net worth of $5.4 billion, ranking him 8th on Indonesia's 50 Richest list from Forbes Asia last December.
Anthoni Salim, who holds a substantial indirect stake in Amman through the Salim Group, has interests spanning food, banking, and energy and other sectors. In December, Salim and his family had an estimated net worth of $10.3 billion, ranking 5th on the list.
