Aneka Tambang (ANTM) has signed a partnership with Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum) to build and operate the smelter factory for grade alumina refinery in Mempawah of West Kalimantan. The company is still in the discussion process of selecting one new partner which will contribute heavily to technology installment in the factory. Currently the interested potential clients are from China, Russia and UEA. The JV expects the new smelter to contribute 2.0m tonnes of production capacity per year, which means the bauxite input could reach 6m wet metric tonnes. Currently Inalum runs an aluminium smelter with a capacity of 250,000 tonnes per year which will be increased to 500,000 tonnes per year up to 2020. Therefore, Inalum estimates that in the future, it will need 1m tonnes of processed aluminium. The Mempawah smelter will absorb US$1.8b investment and will be completed by end-16. The JV has secured bank loans from China Development Bank amounting to US$1.5b.