Gresik Becomes Indonesia's Largest Copper Mineral Refining Hub
PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) operates the world’s largest integrated single-line refining and processing facility for copper and gold, located in Gresik, East Java. President Director Tony Wenas stated that the Manyar smelter facility in Gresik is integrated with global-scale copper concentrate processing capacity, and confirmed that all processing infrastructure in the area has reached operational readiness.
He said the refining hub will strengthen the national industrial structure through domestic mineral value addition. ‘This achievement makes Gresik the largest copper mineral refining centre in the history of Indonesia’s downstreaming, and it also affirms PTFI’s real commitment to increasing the added value of natural resources domestically for national industrial growth,’ he said during the 81st Independence Day ceremony in Tembagapura, Central Papua, on Monday (17/8/2026).
Together with its first copper smelter managed through PT Smelting, the total refining capacity at the site is projected to process up to 3 million tonnes of copper concentrate annually. This massive capacity comes from the combined operations of PTFI’s new second smelter in Manyar and Freeport’s first smelter managed by PT Smelting, both located within the Java Integrated Industrial and Ports Estate (JIIPE) Special Economic Zone in Gresik, East Java.
‘Likewise, PTFI’s smelter in Gresik is now ready to resume operations and, together with the PT Smelting smelter that we also own, will have a refining capacity of 3 million tonnes of copper concentrate per year,’ he said.
Wenas assessed that the company’s downstream operational success depends heavily on the smoothness of the supply chain from the upstream mining sector in Papua. He emphasised that the Manyar smelter is scheduled to begin operations within the next one to two weeks, in line with the gradual recovery of mining activities in Tembagapura, Central Papua, after operations halted in early September 2025 due to a landslide at the Grasberg Block Cave (GBC) underground mine.
‘Especially since we are now at the smelter location in Gresik, which will also soon begin operations, perhaps within one to two weeks, and this is one supply chain from upstream to downstream,’ he added.
Regarding technical issues that had disrupted operations at PT Smelting, he confirmed that repairs will be completed within a maximum of two weeks. During that period, concentrate distribution is assured to continue smoothly as it can be directly diverted to the new smelter facility in Manyar. ‘PT Smelting will likely be back within two weeks. It does not affect production because concentrate is directly transported to Manyar,’ he concluded.
Wenas revealed that by the end of 2026, underground mine production is targeted to reach 65% of normal levels. The company is currently working hard to modify equipment to accelerate operational normalisation in the GBC area. ‘Going forward, production capacity is expected to increase to 75% in the first half of 2027 and gradually approach full capacity by the end of 2027,’ he said.
By the end of the second half of 2026, PTFI is targeting copper production of 800 million pounds and gold production of 700,000 ounces. According to Wenas, the GBC mine recovery process is quite challenging because the company must remove approximately 800,000 tonnes of wet mud material that buried infrastructure and heavy equipment in the underground mine area.
‘We continue to carry out this recovery phase, with some equipment modifications because the ore turned out to be wetter than we previously estimated. So the equipment needed slight modification, but it is now ongoing, all on target for 65% this year,’ he said.
Despite this, the company still projects it can contribute Rp 47 trillion to state revenues this year. ‘And once we are at 100%, the contribution to the state could be extraordinarily large, more than Rp 100 trillion, perhaps Rp 120 trillion annually. That is roughly Freeport’s contribution to the state,’ he asserted.
The second PTFI smelter has been under construction since October 2021 and officially produced its first copper cathode on Monday, 23 September 2024. The first copper cathode production from PT Freeport Indonesia’s second smelter was inaugurated by the 7th President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo (Jokowi).
The smelter project, designed as the world’s largest single-line facility, has a processing capacity of 1.7 million tonnes of copper concentrate per year and produces approximately 600,000-700,000 copper cathodes annually. Together with the first smelter managed by PT Smelting Gresik, the two PT Freeport Indonesia smelters will refine a total of 3 million tonnes of copper concentrate per year, producing 1 million tonnes of copper cathode, 50 tonnes of gold, and 200 tonnes of silver.
According to PTFI reports, the cumulative investment value for the Manyar smelter project, which occupies 100 hectares of land in JIIPE, Gresik, East Java, has reached US$3.7 billion or Rp 58 trillion. The smelter is equipped with a Refinery Unit, Precious Metals Refining Unit, Oxygen Unit, Sulphuric Acid Unit, Desalination Unit, and Effluent and Wastewater Treatment Plant to support maximum utilisation of raw materials, by-products, and waste to achieve high-efficiency smelting and refining processes.