KUALA LUMPUR (April 5): Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd said today a fire incident occured on Saturday (April 3) at its 80%-owned subsidiary Press Metal Bintulu Sdn Bhd's (PM Bintulu) smelting plant in Sarawak. In a Bursa Malaysia filing today, Press Metal, however, did not specify the cause of the fire, which occurred at 4.30am at PM Bintulu’ plant within the Samalaju Industrial Park in Bintulu.

Press Metal said PM Bintulu is principally engaged in the manufacturing of aluminium products. "The fire incident occurred at the new Phase 3 operations of the Samalaju Smelter, which is primarily under commissioning; and damaged one smelting pot out of the total of three hundred smelting pots located at the plant. Other existing production facilities at the Samalaju Smelter were not affected and are running as normal. The fire did not cause any harm to any persons,” Press Metal said.

According to Press Metal, Phase 3 operations were restored within several hours. "There was minimal interruption and the installation ramp-up of the smelting line in Phase 3 will recommence immediately after the damaged pot is repaired within the next few days. "There is no material financial and operational impact on the operations of the Samalaju Smelter arising from this incident as the operations in Phase 3 were restored within several hours and all assets are adequately covered by insurance,” Press Metal said.

At 9.01am today, Press Metal’s share price had fallen 14 sen or 1.39% to RM9.92, with a market value of about RM40.08 billion.

Press Metal has 4.04 billion issued shares, according to the company’s latest shareholder circular.