Freeport Indonesia’s copper smelter construction in E Java reaches 34.9 pct

The construction of the copper smelter expands the capacity of the existing refining facility by 0.3 million dmt per year by PT Smelting, and the processing of precious metal refinery which reaches 6,000 tons per year.

 

Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – The construction of a new copper smelter facility owned by PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) in Gresik district, East Java province, with a capacity of 1.7 million dry metric tons (dmt) per year has now reached 34.9 percent.

“The progress (development) is faster than the target, reaching 34.9 percent at the end of June 2022, with costs incurred more than 1.15 billion U.S. dollars,” Indonesian Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arifin Tasrif said on Friday (July 29) during a working visit to the Java Integrated and Industrial Port Estate (JIIPE) area in Gresik district, East Java province.

On that occasion, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources was accompanied by PTFI’s President Director Tony Wenas.

Currently, there are 10,500 piles in addition to concrete pouring for structural foundations.

“It is targeted that by the end of 2022, it (the development) would reach 50 percent. We hope that in the second quarter of 2023 the construction would have been completed, especially for existing smelting projects,” Arifin added.

The construction of the smelter is supported by at least 3,500 workers, consisting of 98 percent of Indonesians, 50 of them from East Java. This is expected to maintain the acceleration of smelter construction.

“The development project should remain on progress. For this reason, the need for local workers will be optimized,” Arifin said.

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources appreciates PTFI’s efforts in working on the smelter construction project. “Overall I am satisfied. The progress is quite good,” the minister said.

The construction of the copper smelter expands the capacity of the existing refining facility by 0.3 million dmt per year by PT Smelting, and the precious metal refinery which reaches 6,000 tons per year.

PTFI has prepared an investment in capital expenditure of 3 billion U.S. dollars for the smelter construction project.

On the same occasion, Tony Wenas noted that the current development progress was quite good, and exceeded the initial target of 34.3 percent.

“For now, what we have worked on are several pilings that have been installed, reaching 11,000 of the total 16,000 pilings or 65 percent, with concrete pouring reaching 20,000 cubic meters, from a total plan of around 220,000 cubic meters,” he explained.

Tony said that construction activities continued to be carried out intensively, with the contractor company PT Ciyoda International Indonesia (CII) which focuses on land compaction, and is supported by Adhi Karya, as well as several other local contracting companies.

The approval of the master list for the smelter construction has been obtained by PT Freeport Indonesia from the Indonesian government.

The technology applied and developed in the construction of the smelter is in the form of Double Flash Smelting & Converting which has been adopted by several countries in the world, such as China, India, countries in Europe, and the United States.

Meanwhile, the main products produced from the smelter are copper cathode, pure gold and silver bars, PGM (Platinum Group Metals), as well as sulfuric acid, slag, gypsum, and lead as by-products.

Reporting by Indonesia Window