The Indonesian government has yet to make a decision on whether to grant export license extension for PT Freeport Indonesia’s (PTFI) copper concentrates or not.
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Bahlil Lahadalia said that the ministry is studying the issue and no decision has been made until present.
“There is no decision made until the moment before I am now talking. I do not know if it will made tonight, only God knows ” Bahlil told a media conference on Monday, February 3, 2025.
According to Bahlil, based on Indonesia’s law, Freeport is not allowed to export copper concentrate because all copper mining companies are obliged to build smelters. The government has imposed a ban on the export of copper concentrate starting January 1, 2025.
“There are already two smelters in Indonesia, Amman Nusa Tenggara and Freeport. Freeport has completed the construction of its smelter with investment of U$3 billion,” he said.
In the process, the Freeport smelter was caught fire, an incident that is considered as force major. Currently, the government is reviewing the situation.
As previously reported, PTFI has submitted a request for copper concentrate export relaxation after the export permit expired on December 31, 2024. This request was submitted following a fire incident at its smelter facility located in the Gresik Special Economic Zone (KEK), East Java, which caused the cessation of copper cathode production operations.
President Director of PTFI, Tony Wenas, has revealed that all smelter operations were still halted for the repair process.
“It’s still completely stopped. If it’s being repaired, it’s impossible to produce,” Tony spoke to the media at the Office of the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy on January 3, 2025.
Meanwhile, a senior official at the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy, Elen Setiadi, said that based on PTFI’s report, the smelter could only gradually return to production in July 2025.
“Ramp-up is targeted to start in July, but its capacity is only 40 percent of total production,” he said.
Tony Wenas ensured that PTFI had conducted a thorough investigation to determine the cause of the fire and identify the damage. The incident occurred at the gas cleaning plant facility, which functions to clean CO2 gas from the concentrate combustion process.
The gas cleaning plant facility that caught fire plays an important role in converting CO2 gas into sulfuric acid, which is used for the fertilizer industry, nickel HPAL factories, and various other needs.
