Newmont has yet to obtain export permit

By Febry Silaban

Gold and copper giant PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (PTNNT) has yet to obtain the necessary export permit as the government has yet to decide on the copper concentrates export quota for the company, said Director General of Mineral and Coal R. Sukhyar.

Sukhyar said on Thursday that the export quota depends on the capacity of the copper cathode smelter planned to be built by gold and copper giant PT Freeport Indonesia. The latter firm has stated to the government it would develop a 400,000-ton per annum capacity copper cathode smelter in Gresik, East Java, which is expected to be completed in 2017, that would require the supply of 1.6 million tons of copper concentrates per year.

Under the original plan, Newmont will supply part of the smelter?s copper concentrates need, the volume of which will determine the size of the export quota for Newmont.

The problem, however, is that Freeport now wants to supply the entire copper concentrate requirement of the planned smelter from its own operation, Sukhyar said. ?The two companies must sit together to discuss the supply volume for the smelter,? he said.

Newmont has not been able to export copper concentrates since January 12 of this year, after the government introduced tighter export requirements including the obligation for miners to develop domestic smelter, a condition that has forced the company to suspend the operation of its Batu Hijau mine in West Nusa Tenggara Province, and prompted the firm to file an international lawsuit against the government.

The company last month withdrew the lawsuit on hopes that it would be able to obtain the necessary export permit to resume export.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak