President Jokowi Officiates Copper Smelter, Gold Refinery in W. Sumbawa Regency

President Jokowi officiates PT Amman Mineral Internasional Tbk’s copper smelter and gold refinery in West Sumbawa regency, West Nusa Tenggara province, Monday (09/23). (Photo by: BPMI of Presidential Secretariat/Muchlis Jr)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo officiated the copper smelter and gold refinery of PT Amman Mineral Internasional Tbk in West Sumbawa regency, West Nusa Tenggara province on Monday (09/23).

The President underscored the importance of industrial downstreaming as a strategic step to transform Indonesia into an advanced and independent industrial country in processing its natural resources.

“As one of seven countries with the largest copper reserves in the world, we have entered a new stage in copper industrial downstreaming. We seek to become an advanced industrial country by processing natural resources on our own,” he said in his remarks.

The President also expressed appreciation to PT Amman Mineral for investing a total of Rp21 trillion to build the smelter, which uses the double flash cyclone technology to produce copper cathode as its main product and has a processing capacity of up to 900,000 tons of concentrate annually.

President Jokowi further said that once it operates, the smelter will produce 220,000 tons of copper cathode, 18 tons of gold, 55 tons of silver, and 850,000 tons of sulfuric acid as a byproduct.

According to the President, the smelter will have a multiplier effect on the local and national economies, especially through the increase in the Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) of West Nusa Tenggara province and job creation.

“By saying bismillahirrahmanirrahim, this morning I hereby inaugurate Amman’s Copper Smelter and Gold Refinery,” he remarked. (FID/DNS) (DH/LW)