Smelter Starts Operating Again, Big Boss Freeport Conducts A Review To Gresik

JAKARTA - Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Bahlil Lahadalia revealed that the repair of the Common Gas Cleaning (CGC) Plant facility at the PT Freeport Indonesia Smelter has been successfully accelerated to May. Whereas previously PTFI targeted new improvements to be completed in September.

"Freeport reported to me yesterday that their smelter, which was completed in September, was finished this month," Bahlil said, quoted on Thursday, May 22.

With the completion of this repair, he continued, the production process with a copper concentrate as raw material will begin in early June 2025.

"June, the initial concentrate has entered," continued Bahlil.

Meanwhile, PTFI President Director Tony Wenas said in his statement that currently the smelter has started operating and will produce a copper cathode in the 4th week of June.

"After being entered into a concentrate, processed at the furnace into copper anode, then taken to the electrorefinery to become a copper cathode," Tony said.

He explained that currently, the PTFI smelter has been operating again and will enter the ramp-up phase, namely production capacity which has increased gradually from 40 percent to achieving full production of 100 percent in December 2025.

With the operation of this smelter, Tony said that the Chairman of the Board Freeport McMoRan Richard C. Adkerson and President & CEO of Freeport-McMoRan? Quirk went directly to Gresik to ensure the smooth operation of the Smelter.

"The arrival of the FCX leadership is to ensure that the PTFI smelter starts operating well again after the blackout incident on October 14, 2024," Tony said.

To speed up the repair of this smelter, Tony said PTFI uses wide-body cargo planes to accelerate the delivery of materials from abroad.

Tony added that the company made various maximum efforts, including deploying about 2,000 workers for repairs with a two-shift work scheme and focusing on repairs, procurement, construction, and installation.

"By prioritizing safety, we are trying our best so that improvements and commissioning of smelters are completed more quickly and efficiently. Every stage we carry out with great care and full calculation so that the smelter returns to production as soon as possible," said Tony.