Thiess denies report of contract termination
Thursday, October 31 2013 - 01:49 AM WIB
PT Thiess Contractors Indonesia (TCI) denied an earlier report in this portal that its contract with coal miner PT Arutmin Indonesia at the Senakin mine in South Kalimantan had been terminated.
?To be clear, TCI's contracts with Arutmin at Satui and Senakin are not terminated. Both projects have been legally suspended since April 2013, due to a payment dispute with Arutmin,? the company said in a statement received Wednesday.
?TCI remains committed to a fair resolution of the situation at the Satui and Senakin Coal Mine Projects and remains ready to recommence mining on site,? it added.
An Arutmin official declined to comment when contacted. This portal earlier reported that Arutmin had terminated the Senakin mine contract after TCI suspended mining operation at the site for months amid the payment dispute.
Thiess, a subsidiary of Leighton Holdings, suspended the mining operation at Senakin mine on April 26, as the company pursued for the payment of net project receivables, or underclaims, to which Leighton has a contractual entitlement. The company said in May it was confident to settle the payment dispute and to resume operations at the two mines.
Arutmin, which is 70 percent owned by PT Bumi Resources and 30 percent by India?s Tata Steel, in a June statement expressed disappointment over the suspension of operations at the mine. Arutmin claimed at the time it has paid and continues to pay to Thiess all sums that Thiess was entitled to under the terms of the contract.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak