Newmont sells stake to Sumbawa Regency

Copper and gold miner PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT) has reached a deal with the Sumbawa Regency administration on the divestment of two percent stake worth US$73 million in the company, Kontan Daily reported Saturday.

?All the contracts will be completed by the end of this month,? said Martiono Hardianto, President Director of PT Newmont Pacific Nusantara, the Indonesian holding company of American mining giant Newmont Corp., in Jakarta Friday.

Sources told the daily that the funds that local administration would use to purchase the two percent stake would be derived from loans offered by Newmont International Ltd and Newmont Nusa Tenggara Mining Corp.

The daily said that the West Nusa Tenggara provincial administration and the West Sumbawa regency administration had also been offered loans to purchase three percent stake respectively in the company but the two administrations rejected the funding option.

The West Nusa Tenggara Provincial administration intendeds to involve PT Bumi Resources as a loan lender in the purchase of the stake. However, Newmont insists that local administration should use its own money to buy the stake. ?If a private firm is involved in the purchase of the stake, then the divestment program will be conducted under open bidding mechanism,? Martiono said. (*)