Freeport Indonesia says smelter fire extinguished, to assess ramp-up plans

A fire at a sulphuric acid unit in Freeport Indonesia's Manyar smelter in East Java province has been extinguished, a spokesperson said on Tuesday, adding the company would re-evaluate plans to ramp up production.

The fire broke out at the unit late on Monday and the company said it was still looking into the cause.

The $3.7 billion copper smelter was completed in June and had been expected to produce a first batch of output in September. However, due to water and steam leakage during an initial test period, production has been delayed until November , Reuters has reported.

The smelter has an annual input capacity of 1.7 million metric tons of copper concentrate, which could produce around 900,000 tons of copper cathode, 50 tons of gold and 210 tons of silver a year.

There were no casualties or injuries after the incident at the smelter, the spokesperson said.