Freeport Smelter Targeted to Begin Production in September 2026

Jakarta - PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) President Director Tony Wenas is targeting the copper cathode smelter in the Java Integrated Industrial and Port Estate (JIIPE), Manyar, Gresik, East Java, to begin production in September 2026.

“Around September it will produce. In August it will start processing concentrate again,” Tony told ANTARA after a memorandum of understanding signing event in Jakarta on Wednesday evening (17/6).

Tony explained that since a landslide incident in the Grasberg Block Cave (GBC) underground mine area on 8 September 2025, the Manyar Smelter has not received sufficient concentrate supply for processing. As of today, specifically in the first half of 2026, the production capacity of the Grasberg Block Cave mine is around 50 percent.

“If production is only 50 percent, it can still only be consumed by the PT Smelting smelter,” said Tony. PT Smelting is Freeport Indonesia’s first smelter and also the first copper smelter in Indonesia. Meanwhile, the Manyar Smelter is Freeport Indonesia’s second smelter.

He said the Manyar Smelter will receive copper concentrate supply starting in the second half of 2026, as the recovery of GBC mine production capacity will increase to 65 percent. Tony estimates the Manyar Smelter will process 15 percent of the copper concentrate from the GBC mine, carried out in stages throughout 2026.

“Around that much (15 percent). That is until the end of the year. So it will be gradual, not immediately an additional 15 percent,” said Tony.

Freeport Indonesia is targeting a 100 percent recovery of production capacity by 2028 following the landslide incident in the Grasberg Block Cave (GBC) underground mine area on 8 September 2025. Tony explained that in the first half of 2026, the GBC mine’s production capacity after the landslide is around 50 percent of normal capacity. It is then estimated that in the second half of 2026, production capacity will increase to 65 percent.

Furthermore, in the first half of 2027, production capacity is targeted to recover to 75 percent, before reaching 100 percent throughout the second half. “And the 100 percent (production capacity) will begin one day after the end of the year,” said Tony.

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Bahlil Lahadalia stated that before the landslide incident at the GBC mine, Freeport could produce 3.2 million tonnes of copper concentrate ore.