Newmont mulls building smelter in Indonesia

American mining giant Newmont Corp. is ready to build smelters to process the mining ore produced by its subsidiaries in Indonesia, Investor Daily reported on Friday.

 

“It’s not wrong to build smelter but investment climate must be improved,” Martiono Hadianto, PT Newmont Pacific Nusantara, Newmont's holding company in Indonesia, was quoted as saying on Thursday.

 

He said that the obligation of mining companies to build smelters in teh country as stipulated in the mineral and coal mining bill would increase the added value of Indonesia’s mining production.

 

Newmont has two mining subsidiaries in the country, that is PT Newmont Minahasa Raya, which has closed its gold mine in North Sulawesi, and PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara, which operates a giant copper and gold mine in Batu Hijau, Sumbawa Island, West Nusa Tenggara. (*)