Gold and copper miner PT Freeport Indonesia hopes to get an extension of its copper concentrate export relaxation licence from the Indonesian government until the end of 2024 over operational technicalities.
“PT Freeport Indonesia hopes that the relaxation of copper concentrate exports can be approved until the PTFI smelter is fully operational,” Freeport Indonesia Executive Vice President for External Affairs, Agung Laksamana, said as quoted by Katadata.co.id on Wednesday.
The Manyar smelter, located in the Java Integrated Industrial and Port Estate (JIIPE) in Gresik, East Java, is still under construction. It will start operating in May 2024 and will only reach its full capacity gradually in December 2024. The smelter is expected to process 1.7 million tons of copper concentrate per year and produce copper cathode up to 600 thousand tons per year.
The relaxation of the copper concentrate export licence was granted following a one-year delay in its construction due to the prolonged Covid-19 Pandemic that hit Indonesia a few years ago.
“The progress of the Manyar smelter construction has reached 90.5 percent at the end of 2023,” Agung said.
Detailing Freeport’s information, the smelter construction had reached 75 percent at the end of August 2023. It increased to 79 percent a month later and to 83 percent in November. It is stipulated in Freeport’s Special Mining Business Permit (IUPK) that the period for completing the Gresik Smelter is no later than 5 years since the IUPK was issued in December 2018, meaning that the smelter construction should be completed in December 2023.
