American miner Freeport-McMoRan and Chinese stainless steel producer Tsingshan will finalize their copper smelter deal on Mar 31, according to a statement from Indonesia’s senior minister Luhut Panjaitan on Wednesday.
Panjaitan had reiterated in February that the smelter is part of the country’s plan to launch lithium battery production in 2023. He had added that the smelter will convert nearly 2.4mn mt of copper concentrate to produce 600,000mt for pipes and wires worth over $10bn per year.