6 October 2022 17:39 WIB

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TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Chairman of the Board & CEO of Freeport Mc-MoRan, Richard C Adkerson, in an event on Thursday pledged to establish a smelting industry in Papua in 2024, which will also coincide with the completion of the Gresik smelter in East Java.

In an economic transformation event at the Cendrawasih University in Papua, Adkerson revealed that the Indonesian government had also pushed the company to swiftly realize its plan. “The government has warned us to act quickly,” said the CEO on October 6, Antaranews reported. 

This “smelter promise” was initially scheduled to complete in 2023 but was backtracked due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the supply chain disruption that happened on a global scale. 

In the future, Adkerson believes there is an opportunity for Freeport to build industrial facilities, and electricity facilities to support industrial development in Papua. “We are committed to doing that,” he said.

In his presentation, Adkerson claimed that Freeport’s new smelter at JIIPE Gresik, East Java, will be the largest single-line smelter in the world. The copper processing production capacity reaches 1.7 million tons of concentrate per year.

Freeport will also increase the capacity of its first copper smelter, PT Smelting, which is also in Gresik, from 1 million tons of production to 1.3 million tons of concentrate per year. A precious metal refining facility of 6,000 tons per year will also be added.