PT Antam dan China`s Tshingshan eye steel project

Tsingshan is China's top private stainless steel producer.

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.

The company expects to produce 16,000 tonnes of ferro-nickel this year, below its initial target of 20,000 tonnes, but still higher than 14,474 tonnes last year.

Nickel, used in stainless steel production, stood at $31,750 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange Wednesday, below its record high of $51,650 a tonne hit on May 9.