PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI)’s new copper smelter operation at Java Integrated Industrial and Ports Estate (JIIPE), Manyar, Gresik, East Java will be inaugurated today (June 27). President Director of Freeport Indonesia Tony Wenas said that the operation of Freeport’s second smelter was planned to be inaugurated by several ministers.
Freeport has invested up to US$3.1 billion in this smelter project or the equivalent of Rp48 trillion as of the end of December 2023. This copper smelter with the largest single line design in the world will be able to refine copper concentrate with a production capacity of 1.7 million tons and produces copper cathodes up to 600,000 tons per year.
The smelter’s main products are copper cathodes, pure gold and silver bars, and PGM (platinum group metal). By-products include sulfuric acid, gypsum, and lead.
Freeport estimates that it will take around 6-10 weeks from the smelter starting to operate until it is ready to carry out first production. Therefore, Tony estimates that the Freeport smelter can produce the first copper cathode in mid or late August 2024.
