TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) has decided to stop production activities starting February 10, 2017, as a direct result of failing to acquire the copper concentrate export permit and the protest that is taking place at PT Smelting, a smelter operator company.

PTFI Spokesperson, Riza Pratama, explained that PT Smelting's 1 million ton smelter facility is capable of purifying 40 percent of PTFI's total production. But operations were halted caused by protests are taking place at the facility.

On the other hand, 60 percent of PT Freeport Indonesia's production cannot be exported because the company failed to acquire the required permit while its warehouse located in Papua is already in its full capacity.

"Since last Friday the mill [where the ore is processed into concentrates] has stopped production," Riza said on Tuesday, February 14, 2017.

Riza explained that the production halt has affected employees working at PTFI. A number of contractors have been sent packing. Therefore, Riza hoped that state officials would grant their copper concentrate export permit since as regulated in the previous contract of work (CoW), which states that the export permit can be extended until 2021.

BISNIS.COM