Freeport pays $300 million to government in Q1

PT Freeport Indonesia, the subsidiary of American copper and gold giant producer Freeport McMoRan Inc., paid a total of US$300 million to the Indonesian government during the first quarter of this year.

The payment included $245 million in corporate income taxes, $27 million in employees' income taxes, local taxes and other taxes and $29 million in royalties.

"Last year, the company's total payment to the government reached a total of US$1.8 billion or about Rp 17 trillion," the company's spokesman Mindo Pangaribuan said.

Freeport had paid a total of $7.2 billion to the Indonesian government since 1992 until March, this year.

The firm operates huge copper and gold mines in Papua. (*)