Freeport Smelter Construction Progress Until February 2023 Capai 56.5 Percent

President Director of Freeport Indonesia, Tony Wenas. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - President Director of Freeport Indonesia Tony Wenas revealed, until the end of February 2023, the progress of the construction of copper smelters had reached 56.5 percent.

"As of February 2023, the smelter progress has reached 56.5 percent," said Toni in a Hearing Meeting (RDP) with Commission VII DPR RI in Jakarta, Monday, March 27.

Toni revealed that through the construction of this smelter Freeport had disbursed USD 1.83 billion from the company's capital expenditure budget or Capex of USD 3 billion.

He detailed that the construction that had been carried out, among others, had completed 100 percent of the work of the stakepoles, 25 percent of the steel installation and 25 percent of the concrete work.

"This is 50 percent of the total Capex," said Toni.

Despite showing progress, Toni confirmed that the target for the completion of this smelter would be to withdraw from the target. The reason is, the construction of a smelter is hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

His party predicts that the smelter will only be operational in December 2024.

Just so you know, the Manyar smelter is designed to have a copper concentrate processing capacity of 2 million tons per year which makes it the largest copper processing site in the world.

Later, the results of the processing of the Manyar smelter will be added to the processing capacity of the smelter that has been operating, PT Smelting, with a processing capacity of 1 million tons of copper concentrate every year.

"Thus, after the Manyar smelter operates, Freeport is able to process 3 million tons of copper concentrate per year," said Toni.

Smelteranya will produce a copper cathode of 550,000 tons per year. The smelter is also equipped with gold and silver refining.