Freeport wants government not to reduce its production ore quota

Copper and gold miner PT Freeport hopes that the government will not reduce its production quota from 300,000 tons of ores per day to between 200,000 and 250,000 tons a day as proposed by the audit team.

 

Freeport spokesman Mindo Pangaribuan told Kontan daily Thursday that the cut in the production would not be needed because the copper and gold mine giant had not been unable to achieve the current production quota.

 

According to him, the company's actual production is only about 229,000 tons a day, still below its production quota of 300,000 tons a day. Mindo said that the current production quota was in line with the environmental impact analysts (Amdal) which had also been approved by the government.

 

Director General of Mineral, Coal and Geothermal at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Simon Sembiring, said separately that that the government's audit team for revision of Freeport 's contract had recommended the government to cut the company's production quota to 300,000 tons of ore per day to between 200,000 and 250,000 tons per day.

 

"We need to reduce the production quota because the company has been unable to meet the quota," he said.

 

Meanwhile, an expert staff at the ministry, Thamrin Sihite said that the cut would be needed because the company's waste disposal area would also be unable to handle the company's mineral waste or tailing if the company increased its production to 300,000 tons a day.

 

"It could bring a serious impact on the environment," he said. "Moreover, the processing plant in Surabaya will be also unable to receive all the production," he added.

 

The cut in the production quota is one of the 15 main points to be recommended by the audit team. The team, for example, will also recommend the government to change the time in determining the prices which are at present decided three months before the shipment. With this regard, the team wants Freeport to determine the prices immediately after the shipment so that the prices would be in line with the latest development in the market. (*)