Freeport Smelter With A Capacity Of 1.7 Million Tons Of Copper Concentrat And Investment IDR 56 Trillion

Freeport smelter (Photo: Screenshot of Setpres)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo inaugurated the production of the copper smelter owned by PT PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI). Thus, the smelter, which is located in the JIIPE Special Economic Zone (KEK), Gresik, East Java, will start the first production of the copper cathode.

In his remarks, Jokowi said that the investment value disbursed by PTFI was IDR 5.6 trillion.

"Rp 56 trillion is not a small amount of money. A very big amount of money, so I realized the company had to calculate, what should be the advantage of building a smelter of this size," said Joko Widodo in his remarks at the inauguration of the smelter product in Gresik, Monday, September 23.

He continued, the smelter located at JIIPE is the largest single line smelter in the world and has a purification capacity of up to 1.7 million tons of copper concentrate per year.

With the operation of this smelter, Jokowi estimates that Indonesia can pocket IDR 80 trillion per year from dividends, royalties, corporate income tax, employee income tax, and taxes for regions, outbound duties.

Jokowi said that the construction of this smelter was Indonesia's effort to welcome Indonesia to become a developed industrial country that processes its own natural resources and does not export raw materials.

He believes this smelter will also create a very large job field.

"If you look at the industry as big as this, I believe it can involve many MSMEs in the form of catering, becoming a subcontractor of everything related to the smelter in this gresik," he continued.

Jokowi also hopes that this meter will give birth to derivative industrial companies around PTFI.

"There are already starting to produce copper foils. Maybe the cable factories that enter our country will follow," he said.