Smelter Ready To Operate June 2024, Freeport Boss Ensures Anoda Mud Purification In Indonesia

Smelter (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - President Director (Presdir) of PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) Tony Wenas ensured that the PTFI smelter in the JIIPE area, Gresik, is ready to operate in June 2024.

"Currently we are carrying out a commissioning process, namely testing, experiments, trials, to ensure that the equipment and systems that are designed, installed, and operated are appropriate as an effort to complete this smelter project to be completed substantially. It is hoped that in June it will be operational," Tony said in a statement to the media, Monday, May 27.

He explained that the construction of smelters is the company's commitment to increase added value of minerals and support the downstream industry policy launched by the government.

The second PTFI smelter project, which was built since October 2021, is designed to be able to purify the copper concentrate with a copper concentrate melting capacity of 1.7 million tons per year, which makes this smelter the largest copper refining site in the world.

Tony detailed that the smelter is equipped with the Mulia Metal Purification Unit, Oxygen Unit, Sulfat Asam Unit and Desalination Unit as well as the Effluent and Waste Water Treatment Plant Unit to support the maximum use of raw materials, side products and waste in order to achieve high efficacy smelting and refining processes.

Currently, 60 percent of PTFI's production concentrate is exported and the remaining 40 percent is purified domestically through PT Smelting in Gresik, East Java, into copper cathodes.

However, the mud anode containing gold and silver is still being exported. Later, if this second smelter operates, 100 percent anoda mud refining will be carried out domestically.

"Of course there are many challenges in completing the single-line copper smelter with the largest design in the world. However, the smelter project team, contractors and sub-contractors have done their job well. Likewise, support from the Central and Regional Government to PTFI in order to complete this project on time," concluded Tony.