Foreign media on June 20 news: After Freeport Indonesia and Amman Mineral international complete the construction of the smelter next year, Indonesia will immediately stop copper concentrate exports.
"If these two big companies finish the smelter, that means we will no longer export raw copper because it will be processed domestically into cathode copper," President Joko Widodo said in a speech on Tuesday. He expects both facilities to begin production in May 2024.
After nickel, copper will be the next focus of Indonesia's push for more onshore refining. Indonesia is looking to move up the commodity value chain. The government has had to delay plans for an export ban several times as the local subsidiary of Freeport McMoRan Inc., the world's largest copper producer, has continually sought to extend a smelter to start in 2021.
Last week, Indonesia approved export proposals from Freeport and Amman, allowing them to continue exporting copper concentrate until the smelter is completed.
