PTFI targets 5 million pounds of copper cathode production at Gresik smelter this month
Jakarta (ANTARA) - President Director of PT Freeport Indonesia Tony Wenas has targeted the copper cathode smelter in the Java Integrated Industrial and Port Estate (JIIPE) area in Manyar, Gresik, East Java, to begin producing 5 million pounds of copper cathode in September 2026.
“Last August, feeding to the new Freeport Indonesia smelter began, and production can start this month with around 5 million pounds of copper cathode,” Tony said during a hearing with Commission XII of the House of Representatives at the Senayan parliamentary complex in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Tony explained that the Freeport Indonesia smelter located in Manyar had previously stopped operating due to insufficient concentrate supply from Freeport’s mining operations. The disruption was caused by a landslide incident in the Grasberg Block Cave (GBC) underground mine on 8 September 2025.
As a result of the incident, Tony said, Freeport Indonesia’s concentrate was only sufficient to supply PT Smelting, which is Freeport Indonesia’s first smelter and also the first copper smelter in Indonesia.
Meanwhile, the Freeport Indonesia smelter, also known as the Manyar smelter, is Freeport Indonesia’s second smelter.
“Then, if we look at October 2026, 35 million pounds will be copper cathode production from the new smelter (Freeport Indonesia smelter),” Tony said.
According to his presentation, copper cathode production at the Freeport Indonesia smelter will increase from 35 million pounds in October 2026 to 55 million pounds in November, and then rise to 57 million pounds in December 2026.
Subsequently, in the first quarter of 2027, cathode production at the Freeport Indonesia smelter is projected at 137 million pounds, rising to 145 million pounds in the second quarter of 2027.
“So in total this year, as I mentioned earlier, there will be 800 million pounds of copper produced from the two smelters, namely 600 million pounds from PT Smelting and 200 million pounds of copper from the PTFI smelter,” Tony said.
Freeport Indonesia is targeting production capacity to recover to 100 per cent 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, GBC mine production capacity after the landslide stood at around 50 per cent of normal capacity. In the second half of 2026, production capacity is expected to increase to 65 per cent.
Furthermore, in the first half of 2027, production capacity is targeted to begin recovering to 75 per cent, before reaching 100 per cent throughout the second half.