Aneka to Ship Nickel Ore From Maluku to Replace Inco Supply

By Leony Aurora

Aug. 8 (Bloomberg) -- PT Aneka Tambang, Indonesia's second- largest metals producer by market value, will feed its Sulawesi smelter with nickel from its own mines after the expiry of a supply contract with PT International Nickel Indonesia.

Aneka will ship the ore from mines on North Maluku in eastern Indonesia starting in September, spokesman Eko Endriawan said today by telephone. The decision may reduce Aneka's ore exports, Endriawan said.

International Nickel, or PT Inco, said yesterday it cut supply of 1 million wet metric tons of ore annually to Aneka's Pomalaa smelter in Sulawesi after a contract expired on June 30. Aneka aims to export 5.7 million metric tons of nickel ore this year, an amount equal to 92 percent of its production, Endriawan said.

``We haven't calculated how much we're going to export next year,'' Endriawan said. ``This year's exports will remain as planned.''

Aneka maintained its full-year production target of 17,000 metric tons of ferronickel, the company said in a statement posted on its Web site.

To contact the reporter on this story: Leony Aurora in Jakarta at laurora@bloomberg.net.