Antara News is reporting that President Jokowi inaugurated the copper smelter and precious metal refinery of PT Amman Mineral Nusa Tenggara (AMNT) in West Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara on Monday (23/9/24.)
“Indonesia, (ranking) as the world’s top seven copper reserves owner, is entering a new chapter in the downstreaming of the copper industry,” said the president, highlighting that Indonesia’s gross domestic product is still dominated by domestic consumption, reaching 56 percent, which is why the operation of the copper smelter is an effort to reverse Indonesia’s gross domestic product from consumption to production.
“We also want the world’s copper product needs to depend on Indonesia in the future,” the president said.
The Amman copper smelter and precious metal refinery facility sits on 272 hectares of land around 1.5 kilometers from Benete Port in West Sumbawa and has an annual processing capacity of 900,000 tons by processing copper concentrate from the Batu Hijau mine and the Elang mine, as well as 139,000 tons of silica flux per year, says Antara News.
The president explained that the main production of the smelter is 220,000 tons per year of LME Grade A copper cathode, with a purity of 99.99 percent, and 830,000 tons per year of sulfuric acid, with 98.50 percent purity.
Meanwhile, the main feature of precious metal refining is 987 tons per year of anode mud, with the main product being 18 tons per year of gold bars with a purity of 99.99 percent, followed by 55 tons annually of silver bars with 99.95 percent purity, and 77 tons per year of selenium with 99.9 percent purity, according to Antara News.
President Commissioner of Amman Mineral Nusa Tenggara Hilmi Panigoro stated that the newly inaugurated smelter is one of the national strategic projects built as a tangible manifestation of the company’s commitment to developing the mining industry in Indonesia.
“With the operation of this copper smelter, we are hopeful that Indonesia’s position in the global copper supply chain will become stronger,” Panigoro said.
Source: Antara News
Stock photo by yasin hemmati on Unsplash
