Govt still tries to negotiate with Newmont on divestment price

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources will still try to negotiate with copper and gold miner PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara on the value of its asset that will be used as the benchmark to set the prices of its stake the firm has to divest.

Director General of Mineral, Coal and Geothermal Bambang Setiawan said on Thursday if the negotiation brings no results, the ministry will ask an independent consultant to appraise the value of the asset.

?I just met with the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (Purnomo Yusgiantoro) to inform him that we have extended the negotiation for one or two days. If no agreement is reached in one or two days, we shall go to an independent appraiser,? Bambang said.

He said in the current negotiation, Newmont still insists that the value of its asset is US$4.9 billion, while the government?s team set the value much lower.

The asset value will be used as the benchmark to determine the price of the 7 percent stake the firm had to divest in 2008 and another 7 percent in 2009. (Bernard).