Govt Wants Freeport to Build Smelter in Papua, Too
24 December 2014 10:48 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources wants PT Freeport Indonesia to start constructing a concentrate purification plant (smelter). In addition to the one that will be built in Gresik, the government is asking the US miner to also build a smelter in Papua.
"We asked them to make adjustments to the latest developments, for example, by building a smelter in Papua in addition to East Java," minerals and coal director general R. Sukhyar said in Jakarta yesterday.
According to Sukhyar, Freeport's smelter construction can support the increasing industrialization in Papua. "If we want to develop the [mining] sector, we also need to reduce Papuans' dependence on Freeport."
Freeport president director Rozik B. Soetjipto didn't not say much about the company's smelter construction progress, only saying that it is on its way. Regarding Freeport's Contract of Work (CoW) amendment, Rozik admitted the discussion has not come to an agreement. "There is no final decision yet," said Rozik.
AYU PRIMA SANDI
