Copper and gold mining company PT Freeport Indonesia spent up to US$151.7 million as of July to finance the development of its copper smelter in Gresik, East Java. The project was 3.21 percent complete as of July, which is above the targeted 2.76 percent. “We are currently working on the FEED [front end engineering design] and developing the land,” Freeport spokesman Riza Pratama told The Jakarta Post in a short text message, “Physical construction of the smelter will begin around early 2020,” Freeport Indonesia, which operates the world’s second largest copper mine, the Grasberg mine in Papua, announced in May that it would invest $2.8 billion to build the copper smelter that is slated for operation by 2022. Once operational, the smelter will process up to 2 million tons of copper concentrate each year, Freeport president director…
