Indonesia's Adaro plans US$728 million aluminium smelter in Borneo

JAKARTA : A unit of Indonesian coal company PT Adaro Energy plans to build a US$728 million aluminium smelter in a new industrial estate on Borneo island, the company said in a statement on Thursday.

PT Adaro Aluminium Indonesia this week signed a letter of intent to invest in the smelter project to be built in the Green Industrial Park Indonesia in North Kalimantan province, it said in a statement.

PT Kalimantan Industrial Park Indonesia, a consortium led by Adaro's President Director Garibaldi Thohir, is developing the new estate.

The government has branded the park "green" due to a plan to power industrial activities there with electricity from an 11,000-megawatt hydropower plant in the Kayan river.

Adaro said it would team up with domestic and international partners for the smelter, without naming any. It said the project is part of the firm's green transformation initiative.

"We are optimistic that global demand for aluminium products will keep rising, particularly for cable, battery, and chassis," Adaro's Vice President Director, Ario Rachmat, said in the statement.

"We also expect that, going forward, other industries, which require aluminium, such as solar panels and electric vehicles, can be produced in this facility."