Freeport Indonesia to start smelter construction mid-2020

The Indonesian unit of Freeport-McMoRan Inc is aiming to start construction of a copper smelter in mid-2020, PT Freeport Indonesia spokesman Riza Pratama told reporters on Wednesday.

Pratama said the smelter is scheduled to start production late in 2023, with input capacity of 2 million tonnes of copper concentrate.

Freeport agreed to build a copper smelter in Indonesia within five years of closing a deal last December with the Indonesian government on the operatorship of the giant Grasberg copper mine.

Meanwhile, Freeport Indonesia plans to request an additional export quota, Pratama said on Wednesday, without disclosing the amount. Freeport currently has a one-year permit to export 198,282 wet tonnes of copper concentrate.

(By Bernadette Christina; Editing by Richard Pullin)