Smelting Gresik resumes copper smelter operation

PT Smelting Gresik has resumed the operation of its copper cathode smelter in East Java, the only copper smelter in the country, after 47 days of suspension since January 19 due to workers strike.

Smelting said in a statement on Friday that it suspended the operation of the smelter due to problem related to the contract of its workers, but declined to provide details of what the problem was.

Smelting President Director Hiroshi Kondo in the statement thanked the local administration of Gresik Regency, where the smelter is located, and the East Java provincial administration to help the company resume the operation of the smelter, which processes 40 percent of copper concentrates produced by gold and copper giant PT Freeport Indonesia.

Smelting, which is 60 percent controlled by Mitsubishi Corp, operates a copper smelter with annual installed production capacity of 300,000 tons of copper cathode, about 60 percent of which are export and the remainder allocated for the domestic market. The smelter also produces 700-900 tons of acid entirely supplied to cement maker PT Petrokimia Gresik in East Java.

The smelter, which started operation in 1998, also produces byproduct called copper slag supplied to local cement makers in East Java. ?There?s no waste products from the smelter, all are used in other industries,? the company said in the statement.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak