The construction is targeted to be completed before the end of December 2023Gresik, E Java (ANTARA) - Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto officiated the groundbreaking of PT Smelting's factory expansion in Gresik District, East Java Province, on Saturday.
The expansion aims to increase the production capacity to 30 percent, from the earlier capacity.
"The current production capacity is able to reach 300 thousand tons of cathodes. With the expansion worth Rp3.2-trillion of investment, the production capacity is expected to reach 342 thousand to 350 thousand tons of copper cathodes per year," Hartarto remarked.
This expansion is also able to increase the total absorption capacity of one million concentrate covers to reach 1.3 million. The Java Integrated Industrial and Port Estate (JIIPE) in Gresik is also estimated to increase the number of concentrate covers to reach two million per year.
With the expansion and development of the industry in Gresik, Hartarto is optimistic that all of Freeport's production would be processed domestically.
In addition, this expansion demonstrated that Indonesia's strength in the industry would continue to be improved. Gresik is also expected to become a concentrated industrial management cluster.
Director of Business and Commercial Development Irjuniawan P. Radjamin affirmed that construction for this factory's expansion would take two years.
"The construction is targeted to be completed before the end of December 2023," he stated.
PT Smelting has, so far, been processing copper concentrate from PT Freeport Indonesia's mining in Papua. PT Smelting has three factories: a smelter, refinery, and sulfuric acid plant.
This expansion work aims to add a new sulfuric acid plant, increase the capacity of some equipment in the smelter, and increase the number of electrolysis cells in the refinery, he remarked.
"PT Smelting will continue to make a contribution to Indonesia. With this increase in production capacity, it will certainly strengthen Indonesia's position as one of the world's copper producers," Radjamin concluded.
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Translator: A Malik Ibrahim, Resinta S
Editor: Sri Haryati
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