Indosmelt still concerned with copper concentrate supply

PT Indosmelt has postponed the groundbreaking for its copper cathode smelter project in Maros, South Sulawesi, initially scheduled for February to May of this year as the company is still concerned with the necessary copper concentrate supply.

Indosmelt President Director Natsir Mansur was quoted by Kontan daily as saying Thursday that although the company has signed conditional sales and purchase agreements with copper concentrate giant producers PT Freeport Indonesia and PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara, there is no certainty yet on the copper concentrate supply as the government has yet to decide on the allocation given other companies are also planning to build similar smelters, which will require copper concentrate supply.

?We cancelled the February groundbreaking. We targeted for it to be implemented in May. We?re still for the certainty of copper concentrate supply,? Natsir said.

Indosmelt plans to build a copper cathode smelter with a capacity of 120,000 tons, which will require 500,000 tons of copper concentrate supply per year. The company initially projected the smelter to be completed in early 2017. (*)