Publicly listed diversified mining company PT Aneka Tambang (Antam) more than doubled its net profits in the first quarter this year as high metal prices met efficiency measures.

Antam’s latest financial report shows net profits rising by 132 percent to Rp 1.46 trillion as revenue gained 5.8 percent year-on-year (yoy) to Rp 9.75 trillion, driven by gains in ferronickel and nickel ore sales.

Expenses eased 3.2 percent to Rp 7.29 trillion, led by a decrease in purchases of precious metals.

“The appreciation in international commodity prices also had a positive [impact] on the company’s profitability,” wrote Antam in a statement filed with the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) on May 20.

The state-owned enterprise has gained windfall profits from high global nickel prices.

Revenue from nickel ore and ferronickel rose 59.7 percent yoy to Rp 3.48 trillion in the first quarter as sales volumes also increased

However, revenue from gold – the biggest contributor to Antam’s revenue – declined 10.8 percent to Rp 5.88 trillion as sales volume declined 11.3 percent yoy to 6,575 kilograms.

Bauxite revenue, meanwhile, dropped 83.8 percent yoy to Rp 23.43 billion as sales declined 73.4 percent to 102,373 wet metric tons

The company reiterated it would focus on selling more nickel and bauxite ore domestically to capture growing demand from metal smelters following government policies to push downstream mining industry development.

Indonesia enforced the downstreaming plan though a nickel ore export ban that came into effect in January 2020. Furthermore, the government has signaled plans for a bauxite export ban starting June 2023.

Antam said it would continue to expand its gold business by capturing rising domestic demand for the precious metal as a safe haven asset. The company is expanding marketing channels both offline and online for its trademark gold bars.

In contributing to the government’s downstreaming push, the mining firm is building a ferronickel plant in North Maluku, developing a smelter-grade alumina refinery in West Kalimantan and looking into developing an integrated electric vehicle battery facility with Indonesia Battery Corporation (IBC) and PT Ningbo Contemporary Brunp Lygen Co. Ltd.