Indonesia's PT Smelting, a joint venture between Mitsubishi Materials Corporation and Freeport Indonesia, on Saturday started a 3.2 trillion rupee ($223 million) expansion of its East Java copper Smelting facility.
The expansion will increase the plant's output to 342,000 tonnes of cathode copper from the current 300,000 tonnes, the company said in a statement.
"The expansion is scheduled to be completed by the end of December 2023, "PT Smelting director Irjuniawan Radjamin said.
Copper concentrate produced by Freeport Indonesia from the Grasberg mine in Papua, Indonesia.
The expansion will increase the plant's input capacity to 1.3 million tons of copper concentrate from the current 1 million tons, the statement said.
Resource-rich Indonesia is keen to develop its downstream metals industry to boost investment and create jobs, and President Joko Widodo has said the government plans to ban exports of raw materials to encourage such investment.
