PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) operates the third-largest copper and gold mine in the world. The mine is located in a very remote part of Indonesia, which makes supply security an ongoing challenge. For over 20 years Molycop has assisted PTFI in meeting this challenge through the supply of grinding media and Molycop and PTFI now share a greatly valued relationship.
In early 2014 Molycop commissioned a new production facility at a separate site close to the existing facility at Cilegon, Indonesia. The new facility is affectionately called “Adik”, which means “younger sibling” in Indonesian. PTFI has been included as part of the construction and organisational change process throughout the construction of Adik. The Molycop plants in Indonesia now meet 75% of the demand for grinding media by PTFI. The balance of demand is met through product from Molycop in Australia.
The method and control of shipping across the Indonesian archipelago is a significant focus of the Molycop/PTFI relationship. In the past all shipping containers were shipped via the port of Jakarta, which is congested at the best of times. In January 2014 Molycop started shipping directly from the port close to the production plants. This was only possible with PTFI’s support and approval and has reduced logistics issues significantly and reduced cost, waste and energy. This change has also improved the transparency of stock levels which assists in maintaining necessary stock-on-hand levels. The annual saving to PTFI and Molycop is in excess of one million dollars.
According to Mr Arief Latif, Senior Manager for Purchasing, Shipping and Export Import at PTFI: “Molycop has been and continues to be one of PTFI’s most important strategic partners, not only because it has consistently delivered quality products, but also because it has shown great ability to work with PTFI in both good as well as challenging times.”
Molycop also supports PTFI onsite managers and users through the roll-out of the “Molycop Tools”. These tools include specifically designed software to allow the teams at PTFI to understand mill specific needs and to select the right grinding media product for each situation.