Govt plans to change formula on Freeport concentrate selling base prices

The government will change the formula adopted by copper and gold mining company PT Freeport Indonesia on the setting of selling base price for mineral concentrates, which is currently based on the average quarterly price, into real time price.

"The change is aimed to boost the state revenue, "said Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro in Jakarta Thursday after inaugurating echelon II officers at his office.

Efforts to boost state income, according to Purnomo, should not necessarily mean that working contract must be changed, but the efforts can also be made without having to change the working contract granted.

"The government is in the direction of improving what we inherited from the past. And in the future, the improvement is not only related to system but also operational matters," he said.

Increasing state revenue, he explained, cover five aspects, namely state income, production monitoring, environment, empowerment of the community surrounding the operational site (community development) and security.

However, the inter-ministerial audit team at the ministerial level will first listen to inputs from the House of Representatives' special committee of PT Freeport Indonesia before making its decision, Purnomo said.

"We also want to hear (inputs) from the House of Representatives' special committee and learn which direction they will take as they are now in the process of completing the assessment on PT Freeport," he said.

Meanwhile, director general of coal minerals and geothermal energy Simon Felix Sembiring said that the audit on American giant mining company has reached the final phase where the technical department of auditing team will give the finishing touches.

"On next Friday (11/8), we will submit the report (on the result of the audit) officially to the Coordinating Ministry for Economy. The minister and other related ministers are expected to give their comments and suggestions on whether or not the contract will need to be revised," Simon said.

He also explained that the each audit team at the technical level has already submitted their recommendations on how to increase the state revenue. Other recommendations are related to environmental issues, with Freeport asked to build a dike at the tailing disposal site to prevent the leakage at the tailing site. (godang)