Construction of a $223 million expansion at the East Java copper smelting facility began in February. The project is part of Indonesia’s PT Smelting, a joint venture between Mitsubishi Materials Corp and Freeport Indonesia.

Reuters reported that the expansion will increase output capacity at the plant to 342 kt (376,000 st) of copper cathode from 300 kt (330,000 st) currently, the company said in a statement.

“The expansion is targeted to be completed before the end of December 2023,” said Irjuniawan Radjamin, a PT Smelting director.

PT Smelting processes copper concentrate produced by Freeport Indonesia, a unit of Freeport-McMoRan, from the Grasberg mine in Indonesia’s Papua region.

The expansion will boost input capacity at the plant to 1.3 Mt (1.4 million st) copper concentrate from 1 Mt (1.1 million st) at present, the statement said.

Resource-rich Indonesia is keen to develop its downstream metal industry to boost investment and create jobs, with President Joko Widodo saying the government plans to ban exports of raw materials to encourage such investments.