JAKARTA, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Freeport Indonesia's holding company MIND ID said on Wednesday it was aiming to get the copper miner's new Manyar smelter in East Java province repaired within six months after the facility was damaged in a fire.

Freeport Indonesia halted copper cathode output at the smelter after a fire at its gas cleaning unit in October.

Long production delays at the Manyar smelter, with an output capacity of 480,000 metric tons of copper cathode a year, were already narrowing an expected 2025 surplus of the metal and supporting prices.

"We are hoping for your support," Hendi Prio Santoso, chief executive of Mining Industry Indonesia (MIND ID), told a parliamentary hearing. MIND ID holds a 51.2% share of Freeport Indonesia.

"Hopefully in less than six months it will operate normally," he said.

The $3.7 billion Manyar copper smelter was completed in June and started output in September. However, production was delayed until November by a steam and water leak.

Operational issues at the smelter prompted Freeport to ask the Indonesian government to extend its copper concentrate export licence, which expires at the end of 2024, mining minister Bahlil Lahadalia told an industry summit on Wednesday.

He said the government had not decided whether to approve the request.

Sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters after the fire that U.S. mining company Freeport McMoRan (FCX.N) , opens new tab, which operates Freeport Indonesia's mine and smelter, would postpone sales of refined copper from Indonesia until the second quarter of 2025.

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https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/mind-id-says-freeport-indonesias-smelter-be-fixed-within-6-months-2024-12-04/