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Freeport Indonesia's spending on copper smelter hits $150 million
Freeport Indonesia plans to invest $2.8 billion to build the copper smelter in Gresik, East Java, that is slated for operation by 2022.
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Heavy trucks operate in Freeport Indonesia's mine in Timika, Papua. The company has spent US$151.7 million as of July to finance the construction of a copper smelter in Gresik, East Java (Courtesy of/PT Freeport Indonesia)
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opper and gold mining company PT Freeport Indonesia spent up to US$151.7 million as of July to finance the development of its copper smelter in Gresik, East Java.
The project was 3.21 percent complete as of July, which is above the targeted 2.76 percent.
“We are currently working on the FEED [front end engineering design] and developing the land,” Freeport spokesman Riza Pratama told The Jakarta Post in a short text message, “Physical construction of the smelter will begin around early 2020,”
Freeport Indonesia, which operates the world’s second largest copper mine, the Grasberg mine in Papua, announced in May that it would invest $2.8 billion to build the copper smelter that is slated for operation by 2022.
Once operational, the smelter will process up to 2 million tons of copper concentrate each year, Freeport president director Tony Wenas told reporters in May.
Law No. 4/2009 on coal and mineral mining requires mining companies to build smelters so companies will export refined mineral products instead of unprocessed minerals, hence drawing more value out of the country’s mineral wealth.
The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry enforces the law through Energy and Mineral Resources Ministerial Regulation no. 25/2018 on mineral and coal enterprises, which states that, under Article 55, the ministry may revoke a mining company’s export license if it fails to meet smelter completion targets.
