JAKARTA – PT Cita Mineral Investindo Tbk (CITA) allocates capital expenditure (capex) of IDR 282 billion for 2024, according to the directors’ explanation during 2024 Annual Public Expose of CITA today (28/6).

With the only remaining active mine site, Air Upas, CITA plans to allocate all capex for said mine. “For truck scale, pond, civil building, and others,” added the management.

CITA actually records two bauxite mines, Air Upas and Sandai, both located in West Kalimantan. However, CITA is now only focusing on Air Upas.

“For 2024, according to our Annual Work Plan and Budget, the volume target of Air Upas is 4.8 million tons for production, and for sales, 4.4 million tons per year,” said the directors.

Until December 2023, CITA reported production of metallurgical grade bauxite (MGB) of6.35 million wet metric tonnes (wmt), while the sales only reached 5.3 million wmt, with average selling price of USD 40.85 per dry metric tonne (dmt).

CITA’s sales in 2023 also plummeted 42% year-on-year (yoy), and this downtrend continued until Q1 2024. Its net sales almost got halved, from IDR 1.25 trillion to IDR 687 billion.

This might be the result of the bauxite export ban imposed by the government, while domestic market has yet to be able to absorb all CITA’s supplies.

“The government has targeted the completion of 58 smelter projects in 2024, among them are bauxite smelters, which are expected to become a stable market for the company,” the management of CITA said optimistically. (ZH)