Freeport has no problem with forest conservation area

World gold giant Freeport Indonesia says that it has no problem with the government?s policy to restrict mining operation in forest conservation areas because its mining concession areas in Papua are still based on contracts issued in 1999, along before the introduction of the new forestry law, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Friday.

Speaking to reporters at the sideline of at International and Regional Investment Forum held in Jakarta on Thursday, Freeport?s CEO Adrianto Machribie said that the company?s mining concession areas were still based on the 1999 contract of works.

?The size of the concession area is still the same as it was awarded in 1999. So there is no problem with it,? he said. When he was asked about the accusation that some of the company?s mining locations have overlapped with protected forests, Adrianto said that Freeport would stick to the contracts of works awarded to the company.

?If then some part of the concessions are considered overlapping with protected forests, it can not be legally accepted,? he added.

According to him, the accusation could be addressed to Freeport if the company applied for larger concession areas and some of the proposed areas overlapped with protected forests. ?

The controversies over the status of mining areas located in protected forests heated this week after a various group of green activities rallied in front of the Australian embassy in Jakarta early this week to protest the embassy?s double standard policy related to protected forests in Indonesia.

Under the new forest law, open-pit mining areas are banned in protected forests. This law however raises a problem because many mining concession areas licensed before the introduction of the law overlap with parts of the existing protected forests. Many mining companies have been forced to halt their operation due to this uncertainty. (*)