Freeport, Tsingshan finalising $2.8bn copper smelter deal
- The smelters will produce copper pipes and wires of which output can be worth $10 billion or more.
- If this goes according to plan, because the nickel plant would already have been running, by 2023 we would be able to produce lithium batteries.
JAKARTA: Freeport-McMoRan Inc is close to reaching a $2.8 billion deal with China's Tsingshan Holding Group to build a copper smelter in Indonesia's Weda Bay, senior minister Luhut Pandjaitan said on Wednesday.
"The smelters will produce copper pipes and wires of which output can be worth $10 billion or more," Luhut told IDX Channel on Wednesday, without specifying the timeline of the estimated output size.
He said the facility would also make other products from copper that could be used as lithium battery components, to support the Indonesian government's ambition to build an electric vehicle supply chain in the country.
Indonesia is trying to attract more investments from battery and electric vehicles (EVs) companies to take advantage of the country's rich nickel ore resource, an important component in batteries used in EVs.
"If this goes according to plan, because the nickel plant would already have been running, by 2023 we would be able to produce lithium batteries," said Luhut, who is the country's Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs.
Tsingshan had no immediate comment when contacted by Reuters, while Freeport's Indonesian unit did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Luhut in June last year said the government had requested Freeport construct a copper smelter in Weda Bay as it seeks to build an integrated smelting hub there.