Metals mining issuer PT Vale Indonesia Tbk(INCO) has allocated US $12 million or the equivalent of Rupiah 182.1 billion in capital expenditure (capex) for intensive exploration activities in 2023. INCO director Bernardus Irmanto said on February 20 that the relatively high capital expenditure to support the development of the Pomalaa, Bahodopi and Sorowako blocks creates a higher level of confidence in the amount of resources the company is supporting going forward.
Beyond that, Bernardus said, there is a need to allocate capital expenditures for exploration in order to recognize reserves related to later efforts to develop development plans for the entire INCO region, increasing the classification of resources from extrapolation to indication or measurement. According to its 2022 financial report, INCO reported revenue of $1.17 billion, or about 18.39 trillion Dong, in 2022, a 23.74 percent year-on-year increase from $953.17 million in 2021.
Inco's 2022 revenue and profit growth will be driven by higher nickel prices. Average realized delivery of nickel ice in 2022 was $19,348 per tonne, up 35.2% from 2021 level of $14,309 per tonne. In terms of operating performance, Vale produced 60,090 tonnes of matte in 2022, 8% below 2021 production of 65,388 tonnes. The decrease was mainly due to the implementation of the No. 4 furnace renovation project, and since this project has been completed, INCO is optimistic that it can achieve higher production by 2023.
At the same time, INCO explored about 16,000 hectares of operations from the entire Contract of Work (KK) nickel block spread across the South, central and southeast Indonesian provinces of Sulawesi. As INCO manages a franchise area of 118,000 hectares, the realized utilization rate of operating area is relatively low.
On 27 June 1968, when the government signed a work contract with the Brazil-based Multi-mining company, INCO was effectively granted a mining concession covering 6.6 million hectares. INCO retained only about 2 percent of its mining concession after a 12-time process of returning parts of the CoW. INCO returned 72,075 hectares in 2014 and continued to return 418 hectares in 2017.
