Indosmelt to build copper smelter in Sulawesi
Thursday, June 14 2012 - 02:14 AM WIB
Indosmelt?s owner Natsir Mansyur said in Jakarta on Wednesday that the smelter which would be built in Tambua village, Maros regency, was expected to begin commercial operation around 2016 or early in 2017.
?The designing process is underway. The construction is expected to begin next year,? Natsir, who is also a senior executive at the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) said.
The plant would process copper concentrate into copper cathode with a capacity of 350,000 tons a year, he said, adding that his company would invite Freeport Indonesia to cooperate as the supplier of the raw materials. ?Freeport is still waiting for approval from parent company Freeport Mc-Moran in the United States,? he added.
There are a number of copper smelters operating in Indonesia at present. They include PT Smelting Indonesia with a capacity of 300,000 tons a year. Indonesia needs more smelters as the existing plants are only able to process about 30 percent of the country?s copper production.(*)