TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Smelters to miss deadline
Three copper smelters, which are set to be developed, are unlikely to run at full capacity once they are completed as the supply of concentrates to the processing facilities will be lower than their capacity
Change Size
T
hree copper smelters, which are set to be developed, are unlikely to run at full capacity once they are completed as the supply of concentrates to the processing facilities will be lower than their capacity.
Dede Ida Suhendra, the director for minerals at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, said the three new copper processing facilities would be developed by PT Indosmelt, PT Nusantara Smelting Corporation and state-owned PT Aneka Tambang (Antam), which is currently conducting a development study with PT Freeport Indonesia.
Those smelters will accompany the existing facilities of PT Smelting Gresik and another smaller plant owned by PT Batutua Tembaga Raya.
Citing data from the smelter development roadmap, Dede said there would be 3.4 million tons of concentrates produced by Freeport Indonesia, the local unit of US mining giant Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., and PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara, a subsidiary of US-based Newmont Mining Corporation.
As many as 1.2 million tons would be delivered to Smelting Gresik, which has been operating since 1998. Meanwhile, the remaining 2.2 million tons of copper concentrate would be distributed to the three smelters.
'The 2.2 million tons of supply will be divided for the three [smelters]. However, supply to Antam [Antam's smelter] will likely be bigger. Antam wants to produce around 400,000 tons [of copper cathode per year],' Dede said.
The production of 400,000 tons of copper cathode will need copper concentrates four times the volume of cathode, meaning that Antam's smelter would need 1.6 million tons.
Meanwhile, Indosmelt is planning to build copper smelting facility, which requires around 500,000 tons of copper concentrate supply, the company's president director, Natsir Mansyur, has said.
On the other side, Nusantara Smelting is planning to establish a copper smelter with a copper cathode production capacity of 200,000 tons per year. That will require 800,000 tons in copper concentrate supply.
'The important thing is that [the construction of] the smelters are completed. All must be finished by 2017,' Dede said.
The copper smelter development is a consequence of the 2009 Mining Law, which requires mining companies to process and refine their mineral ores in domestic facilities before selling them overseas. Apart from the copper smelter development plans, there are also proposed developments of eight iron smelters, 2 zinc smelters and three manganese smelters, according to Dede.
The mandatory domestic mineral processing comes with the ban of export of mineral ores, which has been in effect since Jan. 12. The development of smelters should have been completed this year, however, various reasons, including economic infeasibility, has made mining companies think twice about the projects.
Despite the ban, the government still allows mining companies to sell semi-finished minerals, including concentrates, until 2017 as long as they show their commitment to developing smelters.
Indosmelt is planning to kick off its project this May and is still waiting for assurance that it will get the supply needed to feed its plant. Nusantara Smelting, meanwhile, has signed an agreement with Newmont Nusa Tenggara but has not started its project either.
Antam and Freeport Indonesia are currently conducting a feasibility study over the copper smelter development. Even if the study has positive results, Antam president director Tato Miraza said the smelter development could only start next year. Therefore, he said, it was unlikely that the development would be completed by 2017.
The only positive development comes from Batutua Tembaga Raya's project in Wetar, North Maluku. President director Herman Seran said the company was ready to produce 9,000 tons of copper cathode this year. The company successfully carried out a pilot project, which produced around 2,400 tons.
'We are expanding and targeting to have a capacity of 28,000 tons per year by the end of 2015. Our investment is around $150 million to $160 million,' Herman said over the weekend.
The company uses a method of heap leaching, solvent extraction and electrowinning in the project.
