Freeport Indonesia Projects 400,000 Tonnes of Copper Cathode Production in 2026

PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) has projected that its copper cathode production will reach approximately 400,000 tonnes in 2026. This output will come from its two main refining facilities located in Gresik, East Java: PT Smelting and the new Manyar smelter. PTFI President Director Tony Wenas stated that production from the Manyar smelter is currently estimated at around 50% of its capacity, with the remainder processed at PT Smelting. “65% of our total smelter production capacity. Production from Manyar is still around 50%, because 50% is processed at PT Smelting. The total is likely around almost 400,000 tonnes, including PT Smelting and Manyar,” Tony explained in Jakarta.

According to Tony, copper concentrate from Papua has begun arriving at the Manyar smelter. However, the company is waiting for sufficient concentrate volume before operating the furnace at a larger capacity. “For now, concentrate has started coming in from Papua, it has started entering Manyar. So maybe, we need to wait until the volume is sufficient before we fire up the furnace,” he said. Tony noted that the smelter’s operations will not immediately reach full capacity by September, with the Manyar smelter currently running at below 30% capacity. By the end of the year, copper ore production from Freeport’s underground mine is expected to reach only 65% of total capacity.

The PTFI smelter is a copper concentrate refining facility located in the JIIPE Special Economic Zone in Manyar, Gresik, East Java. Construction began in October 2021, and the facility officially produced its first copper cathode on Monday, 23 September 2024. The inaugural copper cathode production at PT Freeport Indonesia’s second smelter was inaugurated by Indonesia’s 7th President, Joko Widodo. Designed as the world’s largest single-line smelter, the project has a processing capacity of 1.7 million tonnes of copper concentrate per year and will produce approximately 600,000 to 700,000 copper cathodes annually. Together with its first smelter managed by PT Smelting Gresik, PT Freeport Indonesia’s two smelters will refine a total of 3 million tonnes of copper concentrate per year, yielding 1 million tonnes of copper cathode, 50 tonnes of gold, and 200 tonnes of silver annually. The cumulative investment value for the Manyar smelter project, which occupies 100 hectares of land in JIIPE, Gresik, East Java, reached US$3.7 billion or Rp58 trillion. The smelter is equipped with a Refinery Unit, Precious Metals Refinery, Oxygen Unit, Sulphuric Acid Unit, Desalination Unit, and Effluent and Wastewater Treatment Plant to support maximum utilisation of raw materials, by-products, and waste for high-efficiency smelting and refining processes.