Indosmelt to invest $1 billion for smelter construction

PT Indosmelt will spend at least US$1 billion for the construction of its copper smelting plant in Maros, South Sulawesi which would have capacity to process copper concentrate of about 500,000 tons a year, Kontan daily reported.

The company?s president director Natsir Mansyur said on Friday that about $700 million of the total investment would be used to build a smelter for the production of copper cathode and the other $300 million to be used to process anode slim which consists of additional mineral products such as gold.

Natsir said that the production capacity of the smelting plant would reach about 100 tons a year.

?All of the funds needed for the construction of the smelting facilities would come from our own coffer? he said, adding that the construction of the smelter would be carried out in January, 2014, while the commercial operation was expected to begin in 2017.

Indosmelt has secured commitment from Freeport and Newmont for the supply of copper concentrates for the smelter. Newmont has in principle agreed to provide about 150,000 tons of the copper ore needed by the company and the other 350,000 tons are expected to come from Freeport. (*)