Freeport still waiting for export permit
Tuesday, April 1 2014 - 01:11 AM WIB
Vice President for Corporate Communications at PTFI Daisy Primayanti was quoted by Bisnis Indonesia daily as saying that the company has indeed obtained the export recommendation, and was currently waiting for the export permit from the Ministry of Trade.
The government has imposed a tougher export mechanism since the introduction of the mineral ore export ban policy in January of this year. Under the policy, exports of certain mineral concentrates including copper are still allowed to be exported until 2017, but are subject to punitive export tax, which has been protested by the miners.
Aside from Freeport, PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT), the country?s second largest copper concentrate producer, has also obtained the export recommendation. Both companies have yet to resume export following the introduction of the export ban policy and the tougher export mechanism.
According to the 2014 work and budget plans of PTFI and NNT, the two companies are projected to respectively produce 2.118 million tons, and 527,136 tons of copper concentrates this year, making a combined output of 2.645 million tons, Bisnis Indonesia said. With about 1.024 million tons to be absorbed by the PT Smelting, the only copper smelter in the country, there is an estimated 1.621 million tons available for export.
Meanwhile, members of House of Representatives Commission VII overseeing the energy and mining sectors Totok Daryanto and Ali Kastela was quoted by Merdeka daily as criticizing the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources for issuing the export recommendation for PTFI and NNT considering the two firms have yet to show solid commitment on building the required domestic smelters.
Totok said that the Commission VII would debate the issue after the current recess period ends. (*)