PT Smelting Q2 copper cathode production up by 33 percent

New Orleans-based mining company Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc (FCX) reported Thursday that copper cathode production at PT Smelting increased by 32.8 percent to 124,100 pounds in the second quarter of 2003, from 83,400 pounds in the same quarter last year.

?PT Smelting treated 208,400 metric tons of concentrates in the second quarter of 2003, compared with 130,600 metric tons in the year-ago period when PT Smelting conducted a scheduled maintenance turnaround,? FCX said in its quarterly report.

FCX said copper cathode cash production in this quarter was managed at costs per pound totaled $0.10 per pound in the second quarter of 2003. The cash production for last year?s corresponding period was $0.25 per pound.

PT Smelting, located in Gresik (East Java), is the only copper smelter in Indonesia. FCX owns 25 percent shares in the smelting company through its Indonesian unit PT Freeport Indonesia, the supplier of copper concentrate. The others ownership in the smelter are Mitsubishi Materials Corporation (60.5 percent), Mitsubishi Corporation (9.5 percent), Nippon Mining & Metals Co (5 percent).(robert)