Jokowi: Indonesia Enters New Phase of Industrial Nation via Downstreaming
JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) stated that Indonesia has entered a new phase as an industrial country through a number of infrastructure developments supporting the downstreaming of natural resources.
This was conveyed by President Jokowi when inaugurating the first bauxite injection facility of the smelter grade alumina refinery (SGAR) of PT Borneo Alumia Indonesia, in Mempawah, West Kalimantan, Tuesday, September 24.
"These are traces of industrialization, the beginning of industrialization in our country, Indonesia," said President Jokowi as reported by ANTARA.
President Jokowi said that the traces of industrialization were marked by the operation of a number of smelter facilities in the country as industrial facilities used to process mineral ore into pure metal or metal alloys.
In addition to Mempawah, said Jokowi, the government has operated the PT Amman Mineral copper smelter in Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) on Monday (23/9).
"Yesterday, we also started copper production in Sumbawa, PT Amman, worth IDR 21 trillion," he said.
Capacity and Features of the PT Amman Mineral Smelter is built on 272 hectares of land and is located approximately 1.5 kilometers from Benete Port.
The smelter has a processing capacity of 900 thousand tons of copper concentrate per year supplied from the Batu Hijau and Elang mines, and processes 139 thousand tons of silica flux per year.
The main products of this smelter are 220 thousand tons of LME Grade A copper cathode with a purity of 99.99 percent each year, as well as 830 thousand tons of sulfuric acid with a purity of 98.50 percent.
In addition, said Jokowi, PT Freeport Indonesia is also opening a smelter facility in Gresik, East Java, with a total investment of IDR 56 trillion with a contribution to increasing state revenues estimated to reach up to IDR 80 trillion from various sources, including dividends, royalties, regional taxes, and export taxes.
The smelter in Gresik will process 1.7 million tons of copper concentrate from Papua, producing 900 thousand tons of copper cathode, 50 tons of gold, and 210 tons of silver.
Today, President Jokowi inaugurated the first bauxite injection for the first phase of the SGAR project of PT Borneo Alumina Indonesia with an alumina production capacity of up to 1 million tons per year with an investment value of IDR 16 trillion.
The project will connect the supply chain between bauxite ore minerals in West Kalimantan produced by PT Aneka Tambang and Inalum's aluminum smelter in Kuala Tanjung, North Sumatra.