ASIATODAY.ID, JAKARTA – President Director of PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) Tony Wenas confirmed that PTFI’s new copper smelter in the Java Integrated Industrial and Ports Estate (JIIPE) area, Gresik, East Java will be ready to operate in June 2024.
Tony confirmed this after visiting the PTFI smelter project in Gresik on Saturday, May 25 2024.
Tony said that the PTFI smelter in Gresik is currently carrying out a commissioning process, namely testing, trials, trials, to ensure that the equipment and systems designed, installed and operated are suitable to substantially complete the smelter project.
“It is hoped that it will be operational in June,” said Tony in his statement quoted Monday, May 27 2024.
Tony explained that the construction of the smelter was the company’s commitment to increase the added value of minerals and support the industrial downstream policy launched by the government. PTFI’s second smelter project, which was built in October 2021, is designed to be able to refine copper concentrate with a copper concentrate smelting capacity of 1.7 million tons per year, which makes this smelter the largest designed copper refining site in the world.
This smelter is equipped with a precious metal refining unit, oxygen unit, sulfuric acid unit and desalination unit, as well as an effluent and waste water treatment plant unit to support maximum utilization of raw materials, by-products and waste in order to achieve high efficiency smelting and refining processes.
Currently, 60% of PTFI’s concentrate production is exported and the remaining 40% is refined domestically through PT Smelting in Gresik, East Java to become copper cathode. However, the anode mud containing gold and silver is still exported. Later, when this second smelter operates, 100% anode sludge purification 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 a good job. Likewise, support from the central and regional governments for PTFI to be able to complete this project on time time,” said Tony. (ATN)
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