TIME.CO, Jakarta – Freeport Mc-MoRan chairman and CEO Richard C Adkerson promised his party to build a processing industry in Papua by 2024. This was done after the foundry construction in Gresik, East Java was completed in the same year.
“In the future, we will also aim to build processing plants in Papua. But now the government has warned us to act quickly,” Adkerson said in Scientific Oration: Economic Transformation through Downstreaming with Local Wisdom held Thursday at Cenderawasih University, Papua. 6 October 2022.
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In his BKPM YouTube speech, Richard stated that Freeport had initially promised to complete construction of the foundry by 2023. However, construction of the processing plant was ultimately delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and changes in supply chains occurring around the world.
“We are 40% complete, we will be finished by 2024,” Adkerson said.
In the future, Adkerson believes there is an opportunity for Freeport to build industrial plants, electrical plants to support industrial development in Papua. “We are committed to doing it,” he said.
In his presentation, Adkerson said that the new Freeport foundry at JIIPE Gresik, East Java, would be single line foundry largest in the world. The production capacity of copper processing reaches 1.7 million tons of concentrate per year.
Freeport will also increase the capacity of its first copper smelter, PT Smelting, also in Gresik, from 1 million tons of production to 1.3 million tons of concentrate per year. In addition, a 6,000-ton / year precious metals refining plant will also be added.
