"We hope that the regional gross domestic product in West Nusa Tenggara can increase. It can also increase in West Sumbawa, and those who will benefit the most are the people in the province and all the Indonesian people," he remarked during the inauguration event on Monday.
Jokowi affirmed that the presence of industrial facilities processing copper concentrate into pure metal or smelters could support Indonesia's position as one of the countries with the largest copper reserves in the world.
The president explained that a copper smelter in Indonesia would help to annul the need to export raw materials.
Exporting raw materials was detrimental to Indonesia, as the owner of natural resources, and only benefited countries with smelters.
"If we always export only raw concentrate, we will not reap the added value (of the copper resources). The added value will only belong to countries that have smelters, so in this case, I really appreciate the courage and good intentions of PT Amman (for building this smelter)," Jokowi explained.
The copper smelter and precious metal refining facility of PT AMNT was built in about 14 months. It is one of the fastest mega-project developments in the world for a similar project scale.
As one of Indonesia's national strategic projects, the construction value of the smelter facility that utilizes double flash smelting technology combining flash smelting and converting processes reaches Rp21 trillion (USD1 = around Rp15,197).
Related news: President inaugurates copper smelter in West Nusa Tenggara
The Amman copper smelter and precious metal refinery facility stands on an area spanning 272 hectares, some 1.5 kilometers from Benete Port.
The smelter's annual processing capacity reaches 900 thousand tons by processing copper concentrate from the Batu Hijau mine and the Elang mine, as well as 139 thousand tons of silica flux per year.
The president explained that the main production of the smelter is 220 thousand tons per year of LME Grade A copper cathode, with a purity of 99.99 percent, and 830 thousand tons per year of sulfuric acid, with 98.50 percent purity.
Meanwhile, the main feature of precious metal refining is 987 tons per year of anode mud, with the main product being 18 tons per year of gold bars with a purity of 99.99 percent, followed by 55 tons annually of silver bars with 99.95 percent purity, and 77 tons per year of selenium with 99.9 percent purity.
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia stated that Amman was a national company that had set the start of a long history of building the downstream copper sector in Indonesia.
Bahlil emphasized that national entrepreneurs who secured mining permits from the government should also build smelter and refining facilities to bolster the competitiveness of the Indonesian mining manufacturing industry in the global arena.
Related news: Minister Hartarto inaugurates PT Freeport Indonesia smelter operation
Translator: Sugiharto Purnama, Yashinta Difa
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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