No Smelter Construction in Sight, Govt Warns Freeport
31 December 2014 08:30 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The government sent a warning to PT Freeport Indonesia, reminding the US-based miner to immediately set the locations for its smelters. To date, the Government has yet to see any sign that Freeport is keeping its promise to build smelters in Gresik and Papua, and complete the construction in 2017.
"The warning letter was sent on Monday, December 29th. The due date is January 25, 2015," said Sukhyar, director general of mineral and coal at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. In addition to reminding the miner about their smelter promise, the government is also asking Freeport to provide their biannually evaluation report.
Sukhyar said that if Freeport fails to constrict the smelters, their export license will continue to be detained. The mining company will be allowed to resume exports if the smelters are 60 percent done by February 2015.
Freeport Indonesia president director Rozik Soetjipto said the smelter construction process has reached the stage of technology studies. The company has not determined the location for the smelters in Gresik and Papua. "We are not sure [where] yet. Land permit process also takes a long time," he said.
URSULA FLORENE SONIA | AYU PRIMA SANDI
