Freeport Indonesia halts copper cathode output at Manyar after fire

“Copper cathode production will exhaust the sulfuric gas that must be captured by this plant. With the occurrence of the fire, we will halt the production process,” Freeport Indonesia chief executive Tony Wenas said.

Tony said the length of the production halt would depend on an investigation of the smelter fire and the company would review its production process. Jakarta will review the company’s plan to ramp up production to ensure safety, Indonesia investment minister Rosan Roslani told a press conference.

The £3.7 billion copper smelter was completed in June and started output in September. However, production was delayed until November due to water and steam leakage during an initial test period. The plant was expected to reach full capacity in January 2025 but Freeport will re-evaluate plans to ramp up production following the fire, it said in the statement.

The smelter has an annual input capacity of 1.7 million metric tons of copper concentrate, which could produce around 900,000 tons of copper cathode, 50 tons of gold and 210 tons of silver a year.

There were no casualties or injuries after the incident at the smelter, the CEO said.

(By Bernadette Christina and Stefanno Sulaiman; Editing by John Mair and Christian Schmollinger)