Webstock Inc., citing foreign media on January 3, reported that a spokesperson for Indonesian copper miner Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) said on Friday that the company is in discussions with the Indonesian government to continue exporting copper concentrates until its newly built Manyar smelter fully resumes operations.
The company had been granted permission to export copper concentrates until the end of December, as it expected the new smelter to process domestically produced ore by then. However, the Manyar smelter is currently shut down following a fire in October.
Spokesperson Katri Krisnati stated that repair work at the plant is ongoing and is expected to begin operations around mid-year.
She said, "This will certainly impact our concentrate storage capacity at the Amamapare port and the PTFI smelter, which will operate at full capacity in the future."
"We are currently in discussions with the government to sell the concentrates that were originally intended to be processed at PTFI's overseas smelters until the Manyar smelter is fully operational," she added.
Local media reported that PTFI CEO Tony Wenas met with officials from the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs on Friday.
The news website Kontan reported that Elen Setiadi, an official from the ministry, stated that they discussed plans to quickly repair the damaged sections of the smelter.
