Freeport Targets Gresik Smelter to Resume Operations in September 2026

PT Freeport Indonesia has announced that its new copper processing and refining facility (smelter) at the Java Integrated Industrial and Port Estate (JIIPE) in Gresik, East Java, is targeted to resume operations in September 2026. President Director Tony Wenas explained that the smelter ceased operations in October 2025 following a landslide at the Grasberg Block Caving underground mine in Tembagapura, Central Papua, on 8 September 2025. The incident halted the supply of copper concentrate from the mine. “Production stopped around October 2025 because the landslide at Grasberg Block Caving on 8 September caused the concentrate supply to be disrupted, so the smelter was only processing the remaining concentrate stock in the warehouse and has been completely shut down since December,” he stated during a hearing with Commission XII of the Indonesian House of Representatives on Tuesday. He added that the total shutdown has allowed the company to carry out maintenance and repairs to ensure the new smelter is ready to process concentrate once upstream supply from Papua resumes. The plan is for the new smelter to begin production again in September this year, with a ramp-up process continuing until the end of the year. Meanwhile, Freeport’s first copper smelter, operated under PT Smelting, is currently still running, processing nearly 50% of the concentrate from Freeport’s underground mine in Papua. Tony noted that the production capacity of the underground mine is currently at around 60%, not yet fully normal compared to pre-incident levels. This year, the mine’s production capacity is estimated to reach only 65%, increasing gradually to 75% in the first half of 2027, and is expected to return to 100% capacity by the end of 2027. Prior to the halt in October 2025, the second smelter had begun commissioning in June 2024 and started production in August 2024. However, a fire occurred in October 2024 at a gas cleaning plant unit, which captures SO2 from the furnace to prevent air pollution and process it into sulphuric acid. Repairs were completed, and the smelter resumed operations in May 2025. The smelter project, with an investment value of US$4.2 billion, processes 1.7 million tonnes of copper concentrate annually and increases the total processing capacity at PT Smelting by 0.3 million tonnes to 1.3 million tonnes per year. The second smelter in JIIPE Gresik produces 600,000 tonnes of copper cathode and 6,000 tonnes of precious metal refinery (PMR) products annually, equivalent to approximately 50 tonnes of gold per year.