Govt turns down Freeport's request to expand tailing dump capacity

Ministry of environmental affairs said on Wednesday that it had only allowed copper and gold miner PT. Freeport Indonesia to allocate to allocate 235 square kilometers of land as deposit area for its tailing, making it impossible for the company to increase ore production above 300,000 tons per day.

"Based on the environmental risk assessment (ERA), the ministry have finally decided to turn down Freeport?s request to expand tailing dump area, also known as Ajkwa Deposit Area (ADA) to 450 square kilometers given high risk of environmental impact," said Isa Karmisa, a deputy at the ministry of environmental affairs on a sideline of parliamentary hearing.

Isa said the decision is the process of being formalized and expected to be issued soon, and said Freeport would only be allowed to dump a maximum of 300,000 tons of tailings daily to ADA.

"The decision will seriously affect the company's plan to increase output in the future, said a government official who declined to be named.

Freeport Indonesia's officials are not available for comments.

The company produced 1,524 billion pounds of copper and 2.29 million ounces of gold in 2002. The company's tailing production in 2001 was around 230,000 tons per day in 2001.

Freeport Indonesia, which operates a huge copper and gold mine complex in Papua is subsidiary of New Orleans-based mining giant Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc. (godang)