PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) has successfully completed the progress of the copper smelter construction project in SEZ Gresik, until the end of this year December 2023 it is targeted to have completed the smelter production utility. As of June 2023 it has reached 74.07%.
Yoga Ameliasari Construction Manager of the Freeport Gresik Smelter said, with the existing progress, plus the targets that have been achieved, he is optimistic that the smelter in SEZ Gresik will be completed and operational in May 2024.
"The operation target is based on the Gresik Smelter project which will achieve 100 percent construction by the end of 2023. Then, it will proceed to the soft commissioning phase and ramp up operations in June 2024," said Yoga Ameliasari Construction Manager Smelter Freeport Gresik, in Surabaya, Tuesday (8 /8).
According to him, if you look at the S-Curve plan for the completion of the smelter construction approved by the government, the Manyar Smelter project is planned to be completed 52.9 percent in January 2023. That way, this achievement exceeds the set target.
"The total cumulative costs reached US$ 2.4 billion or around Rp 36 trillion. The piling work, which totaled nearly 18,000 piles, has been 100 percent completed, the smelter concrete concrete work is 74 percent, or 171,000 m3, the steel installation at the smelter is 48 percent, the equipment installation is 39 percent, and the port construction has reached 100 percent," he said. said Yoga accompanied by Kery Yarangga, Manager of External Communications Corporate Communications of PT Freeport Indonesia.
In the same place Sari Esayanti, PTFI Superintend External Communications said, the Manyar smelter processing will be added to the processing capacity of the smelter that is already operating, namely PT Smelting with a processing capacity of 1 million tons of copper concentrate every year. And the plan is to add 300 thousand tons to the ongoing production development.
"Thus, after the Manyar smelter is operational, Freeport will be able to process 3 million tons of copper concentrate per year," said Santi, Sari Esayanti's nickname with Katri Kisnati, PT Freeport Indonesia's VP Communication.
Yoga Ameliasari Construction Manager of the Freeport Gresik Smelter, during a socialization at the Mind media event in Surabaya, Tuesday (8/8). (Ist/doc)
Katri added, the Gresik Smelter will produce cathode copper of 550 thousand tons per year. The smelter is also equipped with gold and silver purification.
Furthermore, the largest single line smelter in the world is claimed to be able to absorb up to 1.7 million tonnes of copper concentrate per year. Then, the resulting copper cathode product can reach 600,000 tons per year.
Not only producing a copper cathode, the smelter will also produce other by-products, starting from the products contained in the anode mud, namely 6,000 tons of pure gold and silver per year, 1.5 million tons of sulfuric acid per year, 1,000 tons of copper slag, 3 million tons per year, and 150,000 tons of gypsum per year.
Later, the total smelter concentrate processing capacity in 2024 will reach 3 million dmt/year. The copper factory owned by PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) has absorbed 150,000 workers at the new smelter. With details as much as 98 percent are Indonesian workers and 50 percent of them are local workers from East Java which includes smelter construction workers, PMR, and the expansion of PT Smelting.
Furthermore, with the combined capacities of the New Smelter and Smelting Gresik, PT Freeport Indonesia's concentrate has been processed 100 percent domestically.
Image source: Kilasjatim.com/dok
