West Sumbawa, 25 May 2026 - Every day, Didit and his colleagues in the Metallurgy team at the Batu Hijau mine Processing Plant continuously strive to find innovative ways to maximize value. This drive stems from the positive work culture fostered at their company, PT Amman Mineral Nusa Tenggara (AMMAN), one of the largest copper and gold mining companies in Indonesia.
Leveraging their expertise, Didit and his team focused on developing solutions to enhance copper recovery rates. Higher recovery rates mean a greater portion of the copper content within the mineral ore is successfully processed into concentrate products, thereby minimizing the volume discarded as tailings.
The mineral ore processed at the plant comes either as fresh ore sourced directly from mining activities or from stockpiles (ore that has been mined and stored for production needs). A distinct challenge arises when processing stockpile ore, as it undergoes oxidation, which tends to reduce copper recovery rates during the flotation process. If left unaddressed, this decline in recovery eventually diminishes the economic value of the stockpile ore over time.
Driven by a discipline for continuous improvement, Didit and the Metallurgy team successfully developed an innovation to resolve this challenge: the implementation of Controlled Potential Sulfidisation (CPS) integrated with Oxidation Reduction Potential (ORP) sensor technology.
This innovation has successfully led to a significant increase in copper recovery. Remarkably, this high performance was achieved alongside an 18.3% reduction in chemical consumption. This serves as a tangible demonstration of more efficient and productive operations, where technology optimizes resource utilization while simultaneously reducing operational costs.
Precision and Consistency Behind the CPS Technique
Controlled Potential Sulfidisation (CPS) is a process that plays a critical role in enhancing the floatability of copper minerals, allowing them to be separated and recovered more effectively during flotation. Didit and his team integrated Oxidation Reduction Potential (ORP) sensor technology to monitor the chemical conditions of the processed slurry in real-time. This provides the team with highly accurate data, ensuring that the dosage of the activating reagent (NaHS) added to the slurry is perfectly precise.
Much like cooking where seasonings must be perfectly measured, the addition of this reagent requires exact precision. This ensures that copper minerals, which were previously difficult to process, can now be recovered more easily during flotation. Flotation itself is a process where copper- or gold-bearing minerals attach to air bubbles and rise to the surface, allowing them to be separated from uneconomic materials.
International Recognition at MetPlant 2026
The success of this innovation was documented in a technical paper and presented at MetPlant 2026, held in Adelaide, Australia. MetPlant is one of the world's most prestigious metallurgical conferences in the mineral processing industry, where global experts gather to exchange insights and best practices in mineral plant design and operations.
Representing AMMAN, Didit and his team received outstanding recognition, with their technical paper winning the prestigious 'Best Paper' award. This achievement proves that the caliber of innovation originating from West Sumbawa and developed by its local talents is highly recognized on an international stage.
As a native of West Sumbawa, Didit acknowledged that this innovation was born out of a highly conducive work culture. “At AMMAN, we are constantly encouraged to drive improvement and never become complacent. A highly supportive work environment, characterized by a strong spirit of collaboration and leadership backing, was key to delivering this innovation. The company provides ample room for us to continuously innovate and establish the most effective systems. For me, this is proof that local passion from West Sumbawa can deliver technical breakthroughs that gain global recognition,” Didit concluded.
