JAKARTA : Indonesia has agreed to issue a copper export permit extension to miner Freeport Indonesia for the next six months, the energy minister said on Monday.
Freeport had sought the export permit after a fire at a gas cleaning unit last October forced a halt in copper cathode production at a new smelter in Gresik in East Java.
“We are giving six months so that they can expeditiously fix the smelter so that Indonesia can get state revenues from the royalties,” Energy Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said at a ceremony to launch Freeport Indonesia’s precious metals refinery, which is in the Gresik smelter complex.
The refinery processes gold, silver, platinum and palladium, according to the presentation shown at the livestreamed event.
Under its revised business plan, Freeport seeks to export 1.2 million metric tons of concentrate, the firm’s chief executive said last week. The company has 400,000 tons of copper concentrate ready to export once a permit is received.
Freeport Indonesia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
