PT Smelting to raise copper output

PT. Smelting, a copper producer in Indonesia majority-owned by Japan's Mitsubishi Materials Corp, plans to raise output of copper cathode by just over 10,000 tonnes next year, the company's executive vice president was quoted by Reuters as saying on Wednesday.

Mineo Hayashi, who is also general manager of PT Smelting, told Reuters the company would produce around 230,000 tonnes of cathode in 2004. This year projected output is 219,000 tonnes, he said in a written reply to questions.

Hayashi said PT Smelting expects to complete a $10 million expansion of its Gresik smelter and refinery in East Java by the end of April. This will raise design capacity to 240,000 tonnes a year from 200,000 tonnes now.

The plant is producing at above design capacity this year. In 2002, it produced 192,800 tonnes, which was below the 214,000 tonnes achieved in 2001.

PT Smelting receives almost all its copper concentrate feed from the Grasberg mine in Indonesia's eastern province of Papua. The mine's operator, PT Freeport Indonesia, is a 25-percent shareholder in the Gresik plant.

Hayashi said output schedules at PT Smelting were not affected by the reduction in Grasberg's output that followed a fatal accident at the mine on October 9.

PT Freeport, the Indonesian unit of New Orleans-based Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. said it restarted full production over the weekend.

Mitsubishi Materials owns a 60.5-percent interest in PT Smelting. As well as PT Freeport, Japan's Mitsubishi Corp and Nippon Mining & Metals Co Ltd are investors in the smelter with 9.5-percent and five-percent stakes respectively.(*)