INDONESIA, RBTVDISWAY.ID - Indonesia is predicted to become the country with the largest single-line copper smelter in the world following the inauguration of the copper plant in the Java Integrated Industrial and Port Estate (JIIPE) Special Economic Zone (KEK) in Gresik, East Java.
PT Freeport Indonesia President Director Tony Wenas revealed that as of December 2023, the smelter's construction progress had reached 90.6 percent.
However, copper concentrate will only begin processing at the smelter in August 2024.
Tony targets full-capacity production to begin in December 2024.
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A smelter is a term for a factory or facility for processing and refining mining products, including copper.
Before the smelter was built in Gresik, several regions were already known as the largest mining producers in Indonesia.
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Indonesia has long been renowned internationally as a copper producer.
Copper is also a major export commodity, contributing significantly to the country's foreign exchange earnings, with production areas spread across various regions across Indonesia.
The following are the largest copper producing regions in Indonesia:
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1. Gresik, East Java
Gresik will become the largest copper producer in Indonesia, even the world, surpassing Mimika, Papua, when the Freeport copper smelter officially opens.
This smelter is expected to process 1.7 million tons of copper concentrate to produce 600,000 tons of copper cathode per year.