Freeport's Production, Exports Decline
14 October 2014 18:44 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The effectiveness of the Law Number 4/2009 on mineral and coal mining (UU Minerba) has caused copper mining giant Freeport’s concentrate production to plunge by 200 percent, Freeport Indonesia’s president director Boedioro Soetjipto said on Tuesday, October 14, 2014, on the sidelines of the Bandung Scenario Report: Indonesia’s Energy Sketches in 2030 in Jakarta.
Rozik explained the company’s concentrate production had shrunk since its operations were halted for several months. Initially, Freeport set a production target at 2.2 million tons, and later revised it to 1.2 million tons. By the end of 2014, about 700,000 tons will be exported.
“The export volume also declines by 20 percent,” Rozik said.
Rozik added that the production and export declines were also triggered by the recent accident in Freeport’s mining area. However, the impact of the accident was viewed insignificant.
Earlier, Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Ministry’s technical and environmental director Bambang Susigit said that Freeport’s Grasberg Mine had to be closed in the wake of an accident on September 27, 2014. Four employees were killed and injured five others injured in the accident.
MARIA YUNIAR