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Freeport breaks ground on $3 billion copper smelter in Gresik
President Jokowi said the facility was "the biggest" single line copper smelter in the world.
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President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo attends the groundbreaking ceremony for Freeport Indonesia's copper smelter in Gresik, East Java, on Oct. 12, 2021. (BPMI Setpres/Lukas)
G
old and copper mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) has begun constructing its copper smelter in Gresik, East Java, ending months of uncertainty over the fate of the US$2.8 billion project.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo inaugurated on Tuesday the project for the smelter slated to begin operations in 2023 or 2024. PTFI said in a statement that progress on the construction had reached 8 percent.
The smelter will process 1.7 million tons of copper concentrate annually into 600,000 tons of copper cathode, which can be further processed into electrical wiring, pipes and car batteries, among others products.
"The smelter is built with a single-line design, which is the largest in the world," said Jokowi at a live broadcast groundbreaking ceremony.
He expressed his wish that Freeport’s smelter would attract other companies, particularly those in downstream copper industries, to build facilities in the Gresik special economic zone.
The ceremony marks the end of over a year of deliberations about building the copper smelter with China’s Tsingshan Holding Group in Weda Bay, North Maluku, that came to light late last year.
PTFI said in July that it had not reached an agreement with Tsingshan. The miner instead signed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Japan-controlled PT Chiyoda International Indonesia (PTCII) to develop the smelter.
