Freeport, Mitsubishi to start joint project<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): PT Smelting Company, a joint venture between PT
\nFreeport Indonesia and Japan's Mitsubishi Corporation, will start
\nconstruction of a copper smeltery in Gresik, East Jakarta, next
\nmonth.<\/p>\n
Adri Machribie, the president of Freeport Indonesia, said
\nyesterday that Vice President Try Sutrisno would lay the
\nsmeltery's foundation stone.<\/p>\n
Speaking to journalists after a meeting with the Vice
\nPresident, Machribie said PT Smelting Company would invest US$700
\nmillion into the plant, which would have an annual production
\ncapacity of 200,000 tons of cooper cathodes.<\/p>\n
He said the plant is expected to start commercial production
\nin early 1999.<\/p>\n
Freeport holds a 25 percent stake in the smeltery. Mitsubishi
\nholds the rest.<\/p>\n
Mitsubishi will operate and manage the plant, and market its
\nproducts. Freeport Indonesia, a subsidiary of the American
\nMcMoRan Copper and Gold Inc. will supply copper concentrates as
\nraw materials.<\/p>\n
Machribie said Indonesian copper concentrates from Freeport
\nIndonesia are presently processed in Japan, Spain and the
\nPhilippines.<\/p>\n
"With the establishment of the copper smeltery in Gresik,
\nIndonesia will be able to process its own mineral resources," he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Shunichi Ajima, the president of PT Smelting Company, said the
\nsmeltery would enable Indonesia, which presently imports 60,000
\ntons of copper a year, to save on foreign exchange.<\/p>\n
He said as many as 700 Indonesian smelters would be trained in
\nJapan to run the plant, the first copper processing facility in
\nthe country.<\/p>\n
Freeport McMoran currently holds 80 percent equity in Freeport
\nIndonesia, which signed a work contract with the government in
\n1967. It began to mine copper and gold in the eastern province of
\nIrian Jaya in 1973. The government and a private firm hold the
\nremaining shares.<\/p>\n
Freeport has a concession area of 2.6 million hectares after
\nan extension of its contract in 1991.(hen)<\/p>",
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