MEMR: Newmont will soon get export recommendation

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) will soon issue an export recommendation letter for gold and copper mining firm PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT) to allow the company obtain new export permit from the Ministry of Trade and resume export, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Thursday.

The paper quoted Director for Mineral Management and Development at the ministry Mohammad Hidayat as saying that the ministry would soon complete the process of evaluation of the requirements submitted by NNT to obtain the necessary export recommendation letter.

NNT?s six-month export permit expired on September 18, forcing the company to suspend export. The company must renew the permit for another six months to be able to resume export, which requires a recommendation letter from the MEMR.

But NNT has been unable to obtain the necessary recommendation letter as it has failed to meet part of the requirements set by the MEMR, one of which is a definitive agreement over a previously announced plan to help gold and copper giant PT Freeport Indonesia in realizing a US$2.3 billion copper smelter in Gresik, East Java.

NNT recently has managed to sign a definitive agreement with PT Freeport. The MEMR also wants clear commitment from NNT on how much funds would be provided by the company for the planned smelter, and the volume of copper concentrates allocated for the smelter.

NNT has asked for an export quota of 500,000 tons of copper concentrates for the period of another six months. (*)