But nickel is the main business of the company whose sales revenue more than quadrupled to 4.1 trillion rupiah ($451.1 million) - JAKARTA, Oct 3 - Indonesian state-owned miner PT Aneka Tambang plans to reduce its dependence on nickel and step up its gold and bauxite business in coming years, a senior company official said.

The firm expects nickel to account for 60-70 percent of its revenue within 10 years, down from more that 90 percent currently, while gold and bauxite will contribute around 40 percent to its coffers, Kurniadi Atmosasmito, Antam’s finance director, said.

“It will be difficult to depend on one commodity and nickel has been dominant in our revenue. We need to have a balance,” Atmosasmito told reporters late on Tuesday.

Experts say having more than one commodity in its basket reduce volatility for the company.

Antam plans to acquire gold mines to boost its gold reserves which are expected to run out by 2013.

“We have shortlisted 10 gold mines but we’re going to pick one which will be profitable for Antam,” said Atmosasmito, adding gold investment was relatively stable due to higher oil prices and growing demand from China and India.

Last month, the company signed a deal worth up to $1.4 billion with United Company Rusal to construct a bauxite and alumina complex on the island of Borneo from 2009.

“Antam plans to develop more new smelters for gold and bauxite in future. We have to be a bit aggressive to diversify our business,” Atmosasmito said.

Antam, 65 percent owned by the Indonesian government, is involved in exploration and production of nickel ore, smelting of ferro-nickel, exploration, production and refining of gold, silver, bauxite and iron sands.

But nickel is the main business of the company whose sales revenue more than quadrupled to 4.1 trillion rupiah ($451.1 million) in the first half of this year.

The company expects to produce 16,000 tonnes of ferro-nickel this year, lower than an initial target of 20,000 tonnes, but still up from 14,474 tonnes last year.

Antam’s ferro-nickel output may rise to 17,000 tonnes next year as its third smelter is expected to run at full capacity by then, said Alwin Syah Loebis, Antam’s operational director.

Prices of nickel — used in stainless steel manufacture — at the London Metal Exchange stood at $30,650/$30,950 a tonne on Wednesday, below its record high of $51,650 a tonne on May 9.

Indonesia is rich in mineral such as coal, nickel, copper, and gold but it has not seen fresh investment for years due to issues such as graft, red tape and a complicated regulatory environment.

Several global mining firms such as Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc. and Newmont Mining Corp have operations in Indonesia.

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