Freeport Indonesia says Manyar smelter resumes operations after fire

Copper miner Freeport Indonesia said its $3.7 billion Manyar smelter in East Java has resumed operations earlier than anticipated after a fire took it offline last year, and is expected to produce copper cathode by the fourth week of June.

CEO Tony Wenas said in a statement on Thursday the plant was expected to reach full production capacity by December. A fire damaged the plant last October.

Wenas said production had been expected to resume in June, but the repairs were completed ahead of schedule.

In March, the Indonesian government gave Freeport Indonesia, a unit of Freeport-McMoRan Inc, a six-month permit to export 1.27 million metric tons of copper concentrate, relaxing a country-wide export ban on unprocessed copper because the company was unable to use the smelter.

(By Gayatri Suroyo and Ananda Teresia; Editing by John Mair)