Freeport to conduct feasibility study for smelter construction

PT Freeport Indonesia said it is ready to carry out a feasibility study for the construction of a copper smelting plant as an initial step of the company to implement the law No. 4/2009 on mining, Bisnis Indonesia reported.

Freeport?s President Director Rozik B Soetjipto said on Friday that the joint feasibility study with the government for the construction of the smelter would be one of the two options the company would carry out regarding the government?s requirement on the construction of the smelter,

?Freeport is ready to participate in a joint feasibility study with the agencies appointed by the governments, state firms and universities,? he said in Bandung.

In the second option, Freeport would cooperate with the third party which would build a smelter. Under the cooperation, Freeport would be ready to provide sustainable supply of raw copper concentrate for the smelter.

The construction of the smelter is one of important aspects that have not been agreed in the renegotiation of Freeport?s Contract of Works with the government.

Under the new mining law, beginning in 2014, miners are no longer allowed to export unprocessed minerals. They should process the raw minerals at their own smelters or cooperate with independent smelting firms.

At present, Freeport exports 70 percent of its copper concentrates and ship the other 30 percent to PT Smelting Gresik?s smelter in Gresik, East Java. (*)