Export permit for Freeport, Newmont to be issued next week

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources will finally issue the necessary export recommendation letters for four mining companies next week to allow them to resume mineral concentrates export, Kontan reported on Monday.

The paper quoted Director General of Coal and Mineral at the ministry, R. Sukhyar as saying that the ministry was still making calculation on the export quota to be assigned to each company.

The paper said that the four firms include PT Freeport Indonesia, PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara, PT Sebuku Iron Lateritic Ores, and PT Lumbung Mineral Sentosa.

Since the introduction of the mineral ore export ban policy on January 12 of this year, the government imposed tighter export requirements for export of certain mineral concentrates one of which is the export recommendation.

To obtain the export recommendation letters miners must meet certain requirements including showing progress of the construction of domestic smelters and putting down a deposit amounting to 5 percent of the total investment requirement for the smelters into the government?s account. The export recommendation letter is required to obtain export approval from the Ministry of Trade.

Newmont has recently warned that it would have to stop operation and suspend about 80 percent of its workforce if it could not resume export by June 1. (*)