MEMR turns down Newmont?s proposal

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) has rejected a revised proposal from gold and copper mining firm PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT) to obtain export permit for another six-month period, Kontan reported on Wednesday.

The paper quoted Director for Mineral Management and Development at the ministry, Mohammad Hidayat as saying that the ministry has asked NNT, a subsidiary of US-based Newmont Mining Corp, to revise the second proposal as it does not contain clear plan about the requirement to develop domestic smelter. The ministry hopes NNT to be able to revise the proposal this month.

NNT submitted a proposal in August to the ministry to get export recommendation letter, which is required to get export permit from the Ministry of Trade, after its six-month export permit expired on September 18. But the August proposal was rejected by the MEMR, which required the company to include the domestic smelter development plan.

NNT then renewed an MoU with another gold and copper giant PT Freeport Indonesia on cooperation in the latter?s planned copper smelter project in Gresik, East Java.

Hidayat, however, said that NNT has yet to specify what its role would be in the Freeport smelter project, particularly on the how much funds would be committed by the company in the US$2.3 billion project.

Elsewhere, Kontan said that NNT has also requested for a higher export quota of 500,000 tons copper concentrates, compared to 477,000 tons of concentrates under the previous export permit. (*)