U.S. copper miner Freeport McMoRan will postpone sales of refined copper in Indonesia until the second quarter of 2025 due to further production delays caused by a fire at the new smelter.

Long-term production delays at the new Manyar smelter with an annual capacity of 480,000 tons of cathode copper could narrow expectations of a copper surplus in 2025, supporting copper prices.

Freeport said earlier on Tuesday that it was investigating the cause of the fire in the sulfuric acid unit at the Manyar plant in East Java, which was extinguished on Monday evening.

The $3.7 billion Manyar copper smelter was completed in June and began production in September. However, production was delayed until November due to a water and steam leak during preliminary testing, Reuters reported earlier this month.

Sources also said Freeport has been in talks with the Indonesian government to extend its copper concentrate export license, which expires at the end of 2024, until the first quarter of next year.

The slow ramp-up of the Manyar smelter could mean less raw copper concentrate consumption and could free up output from its Grasberg copper-gold mine in Indonesia to an undersupplied market.

The Indonesian government is trying to stop the export of copper ore and concentrate. Indonesia wants miners to smelt metals locally to add value to their products and boost state revenues.
 
Shanghai Nonferrous Network
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