Freeport requests for export recommendation from MEMR
Tuesday, February 25 2014 - 02:37 AM WIB
PT Freeport Indonesia, a local unit of US-based giant Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc, has already submitted a request to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) for export recommendation as the company plans to build the required domestic smelter.
President Director of Freeport Indonesia Rozik B. Soetjipto said that the company now has nearly 150,000 tons of copper concentrates in stockpile which have yet to be exported following the introduction of the government mineral export ban policy on January 12.
?We have already come to the MEMR to request for the export recommendation,? Rozik told Petromindo.com via text message.
Following the introduction of the export ban policy, which still allows the export of six mineral concentrates including copper until 2017, the government requires the producers of the mineral concentrates such as Freeport and Newmont to get recommendation from the MEMR to be able to obtain export permit from the Ministry of Trade.
One of the key requirements to be able to obtain the recommendation is that the miners must be able to present seriousness in the construction of domestic smelters. Since the introduction of the export ban policy, neither Freeport nor other mineral concentrate producers have obtained the export permit. The Ministry of Trade said recently that only nine companies which have obtained export permit, but they are those which have refined their products, thus are not barred from export.
Rozik said that he has met with Minister of Industry MS Hidayat to report the progress of its planned smelter in cooperation with state-controlled mining firm PT Antam.
Meanwhile, Koran Tempo reported Tuesday that PT Newmont Nusan Tenggara, a local unit of US-based Newmont Mining Corp, has issued an internal memo to adopt tough efficiency measures to help cut down operational costs as the company anticipates disruption to its copper concentrate export.
The paper quoted company Manager for Corporate Social Responsibility, Sarafuddin Jarot as saying that the export ban policy would undermine the company?s revenue, but stopped short of disclosing any figure. Newmont along with Freeport allocates about a third of their copper concentrate output for domestic smelter PT Smelting Gresik, with the remainder dedicated for export.
The company has not been able to obtain the export recommendation as it has yet to put in place plan to build the required domestic smelter, the paper said.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak