Freeport’s Second Smelter in Gresik to Resume Operations in September 2026
Mon 10 Aug 2026, 15:50 PM
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PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) is targeting the Manyar smelter in Gresik, East Java, to resume production in September 2026. PTFI’s second smelter has been shut down since the fourth quarter of last year due to disruptions in concentrate supply following a wet ore mudslide incident in the underground mining area of the Grasberg Block Cave (GBC) on September 8, 2025.
PT Freeport Indonesia President Director Tony Wenas said the Manyar smelter is scheduled to resume producing copper cathodes in September 2026.
“The smelter will start producing again in September,” Tony said when met in Jakarta, as quoted on Monday (August 10, 2026).
According to Tony, copper concentrate from Papua has now begun arriving at the Manyar smelter. However, Freeport is still waiting for sufficient concentrate volumes before operating the furnace at a higher capacity.
“For now, the concentrate has started coming in from Papua and has started arriving at Manyar. So perhaps we need to wait until the volume is sufficient before we run it through the furnace,” he said.
Tony said the smelter’s operations would not immediately reach full capacity in September. At least initially, the Manyar smelter’s capacity will remain below 30%.
He said that by the end of this year, copper ore production capacity from Freeport’s underground mine will only reach around 65% of capacity. Underground mine production is expected to approach 100% by the end of 2027.
“Yes, as I said, moving toward 100% by the end of 2027,” he said.
For context, PTFI’s smelter is a copper concentrate refining facility located in the JIIPE Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Manyar, Gresik, East Java. The project, which began construction in October 2021, officially produced its first copper cathode on Monday, September 23, 2024. The first copper cathode production at PT Freeport Indonesia’s second smelter was inaugurated by Indonesia’s seventh President, Joko Widodo.
The smelter project, which has the world’s largest single-line design, has a processing capacity of 1.7 million tons of copper concentrate per year and produces around 600,000-700,000 tons of copper cathodes annually.
Alongside its first smelter, operated by PT Smelting Gresik, the two smelters owned by PT Freeport Indonesia will refine a total of 3 million tons of copper concentrate per year, producing 1 million tons of copper cathodes, 50 tons of gold, and 200 tons of silver.
According to a PTFI report, the cumulative investment in the Manyar smelter project, which occupies 100 hectares in JIIPE, Gresik, East Java, has reached USD 3.7 billion, or IDR 58 trillion.
The smelter is equipped with a Refinery Unit, Precious Metals Refining Unit, Oxygen Unit, Sulfuric Acid Unit, and Desalination Unit, as well as an Effluent and Wastewater Treatment Plant, to maximize the utilization of raw materials, by-products, and waste and achieve a high-efficiency smelting and refining process.
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