Sources say that Freeport will delay Indonesian copper sale to the second quarter of 2025 due to a fire.

Two sources familiar with the situation said that the U.S. miner of copper, Freeport McMoRan, will delay its sales of refined Copper from Indonesia until 2025 due to a fire in its new smelter.

The new Manyar smelter with a production capacity of 480.000 metric tons copper cathode per year is likely to reduce the expected surplus of metal in 2025 and support the prices.

Freeport announced earlier Tuesday that it was investigating the cause for the fire which occurred at the Freeport site in East Java, at the sulphuric unit. The fire was put out late Monday night.

A spokesperson for PT Freeport Indonesia, the company that runs the plant, said they are conducting damage assessments as well as root cause analysis.

The company stated that it would also assess the impact of this incident on its planned ramp-up for full production.

The copper smelter in Manyar, worth $3.7 billion, was completed in June. Production began in September. Earlier this month, it was reported that production had been delayed until November because of water and steam leakages during an initial testing period.

Sources also claim that Freeport is in discussions with the Indonesian Government to extend the export licence of copper concentrates, which expires by the end 2024, into the first quarter next year.

Slow ramp-up could result in lower consumption of copper feedstock at Manyar and a possible release of output from the company's flagship Grasberg copper-gold mine in Indonesia.

Indonesia is trying to discourage the export of copper concentrates and ores. It wants to encourage miners to smelt the metal locally in order to increase state revenue and add value. (Reporting and editing by Pratima De Sai and Kirby Donovan; Julian Luk)

(source: Reuters)