Newmont suspends concentrate production

PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (PTNNT), a local subsidiary of American mining giant Newmont Corp. has suspended all production and processing activities of copper concentrate at its Batu Hijau copper and gold mine in Sumbawa Barat pending a permit from the government for the firm to resume concentrate export.

The firm also noted that the facilities at the mine to store copper concentrate have been full that the firm has no alternative to stop the copper concentrate processing and production activities.

The firm said in a statement on Tuesday that it had postponed its policy of placing its employees on standby status with reduced compensation pending the result of the ministerial meeting scheduled for this week in responding the firm?s request for permit to resume concentrate exports.

?The company has continued communication with its employees on the latest conditions and most of the employees would be ready to accept the standby status and have their salaries cut, if such measures are necessary,? the firm said.

Following the introduction of mineral ore export ban policy on January 12, the government imposed tighter export restrictions for mineral concentrates including requiring miners to obtain export recommendation from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR). One of the requirements to be able to obtain this recommendation is that miners must show commitment to develop domestic smelters and put down a deposit worth 5 percent of total investment for the smelters.

The export recommendation from the MEMR is necessary to allow miners such as PTNNT and PT Freeport Indonesia to resume copper concentrate export.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon