There is still no agreement between Indonesia and Freeport Indonesia regarding the sale of a 10.64 percent stake in Freeport Indonesia. Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources objected to the USD $1.7 billion asking price for the stake in Freeport Indonesia, the local unit of US mining giant Freeport McMoRan. Based on Indonesian Government Regulation No. 77/2014 on the Implementation of Mineral and Coal Mining Business Activities, Freeport Indonesia is required to divest a 30 percent stake (to an Indonesian party) before 2019.

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The Indonesian government seems to abandon or delay its policy of banning mineral ore exports from 2017 onward. In January 2014 the ban on exports of raw minerals, part of the 2009 Mining Law, came into effect. However, due to the lack of domestic processing facilities the government allowed the resumption of certain concentrate exports (such as copper concentrate) provided the miner would be committed to the construction of smelting facilities, and pay higher taxes and royalties. The export ban was highly controversial as it conflicted with existing contracts and therefore caused outrage in Indonesia's mining industry.

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Again there has emerged speculation that Indonesia may not fully implement its ban on exports of concentrates (partially processed metals) in 2017. This controversial ban, part of the country's 2009 Mining Law, aims to boost domestic processing facilities and reduce the country's dependence on raw commodity exports. The ban was originally implemented in January 2014. However, as there was insufficient domestic smelting capacity full implementation would imply a huge revenue loss. Therefore, concentrate exports were allowed to resume (until 2017) provided exporters pay higher taxes, royalties and provide evidence that they are committed to develop smelters.

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There is still the possibility that Freeport Indonesia, subsidiary of US-based natural resources company Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc, will not be allowed to continue exporting copper concentrate. The existing export permit expires on Thursday (28/01) and the Indonesian government is seemingly unwilling to renew the 6-month permit as Freeport has still not send the USD $530 million deposit for the development of a new smelter. Freeport, on the other hand, says this deposit is not in line with existing agreements.

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The recent visit of Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) General Director Tito Sulistio and Director of Corporate Listing Samsul Hidayat to Freeport Indonesia's Grasberg mine in Timika (Papua), signals that the subsidiary of US-based natural resources company Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc is serious about studying the possibility to divest a 10.64 percent stake through an initial public offering (IPO) on the IDX. Both Directors met Freeport Indonesia's General Director Maroef Sjamsoeddin at the world’s largest gold mine and third-largest copper mine.

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Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources issued an export recommendation letter for copper and gold miner Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT), meaning that the company can resume copper concentrate exports for another six-month period after the previous permit expired on 22 September. Bambang Gatot, Director General for Coal and Minerals at the Energy Ministry, said NNT has met all requirements - including those related to NNT's commitment to establish domestic smelting facilities - in order to obtain the export recommendation letter.

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As Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources declined to issue a recommendation for the extension of Newmont Nusa Tenggara’s export permit, operations at the Batu Hijau mine (an open-pit gold and copper mine located on the island of Sumbawa in the eastern part of Indonesia) have become uncertain. The six-month permit for copper concentrate exports of copper miner Newmont Nusa Tenggara, a unit of US-based Newmont Mining Corp, expired on Friday (18/09) and was not extended as the company failed to fulfill the government’s requirements regarding smelter development.

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In an effort to improve legal certainty and the business climate in Indonesia’s mining industry, the government announced it will revise a regulation that currently limits the time to start negotiating about an extension of a mining permit to two years before the concession contract’s expiration date. Sudirman Said, Indonesian Energy and Mineral Resources Minister, said the government plans to allow extension talks to start up to ten years before contracts end.

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Today, Freeport Indonesia and the Indonesian government will continue negotiations regarding the miner’s request to export 575,000 tons of copper over the next six months. Freeport’s previous export permit expired on 25 July and as the local unit of US mining giant Freeport McMoRan has not yet met demands of the government it failed to get an extension for copper concentrate exports. As a result, shares of parent company Freeport McMoran Inc. tumbled 9.90 percent on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday (24/07).

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The Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources signaled that the government may (again) decide to postpone full implementation of its ban on exports of raw mineral ores and concentrates as the country still lacks sufficient smelting capacity to produce value-added mining products. Through this export ban, stipulated by the 2009 Mining Law, the Indonesian government aims to enhance revenue generation in the country’s natural resources sector by forcing miners to produce and export value-added products instead of raw materials.

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After the government of Indonesia threatened to revoke the export permit of Freeport Indonesia by the end of January on claims that the company fails to show its commitment to establish a new copper smelter in Southeast Asia’s largest economy, the local unit of US mining giant Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (re)confirmed today that it is serious to build the smelter. Based on renegotiations between the government and Freeport Indonesia (agreed upon in July 2014), the company had been allowed to resume copper concentrate.

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Production is still not back on track at Freeport Indonesia’s Grasberg mine in Papua as around 1,000 workers have not showed up for work since the second week of October. These workers refuse to work after a series of (fatal) incidents that led to concern about safety policies. In May 2013, 28 Freeport Indonesia workers died after a tunnel collapsed. More recently, in late September 2014, four workers died after a giant haulage truck collided with another vehicle (carrying nine passengers) at the Grasberg mine.

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The wide current account deficit of Indonesia is expected to have eased in the third quarter of 2014. According to information from the country’s central bank, the current account deficit narrowed to 3.1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in Q3-2014 from 4.27 percent of GDP in the previous quarter. A deficit below the level of 3 percent of GDP is generally regarded as a sustainable level. The improvement in Q3-2014 is mainly due to resumed mineral exports after the government and several miners managed to finalize renegotiations.

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Global copper prices can come under pressure as Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT) has started to export copper concentrate again this week after a nine-month hiatus caused by the dispute between the Indonesian government and NNT about Law No. 4 of 2009 on Mineral and Coal Mining (the “New Mining Law” of Indonesia), which sets high export taxes on unprocessed mineral exports (and stipulates a complete ban by 2017), in an effort to force Indonesian miners to build local processing facilities.

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Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT), subsidiary of US-based mining company Newmont Mining Corp, has received a permit from the Indonesian government to export 350,000 metric tons of copper concentrate in the next three years. Three weeks ago it became known that both parties agreed on the content of a renegotiation package after an eight-month dispute over Indonesia’s mineral ore export ban, implemented on 12 January 2014 (part of the New Mining Law). In the remainder of 2014, the company is expected to export 160,000 tons.

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Pemerintah mengakui sulit mengejar target pertumbuhan yang ditetapkan dalam APBN-P 2014 yakni sebesar 5.5 persen. Wakil Menteri Keuangan Bambang Brodjonegoro bahkan memperkirakan Indonesia harus bekerja keras mengejar pertumbuhan di level 5.3 persen. “Kita mencoba realistis. Mudah-mudahan di semester II bisa memperbaiki jadi sedikit bisa ke 5.3 persen. Outlook range kami di 5.2-5.3 persen,” tutur Bambang, pekan ini.

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Reportedly, Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT) will not seek international arbitration at the Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington (USA). Previously, the miner threatened to file for arbitration in an attempt to force the Indonesian government to cancel the recently introduced ban on exports of unprocessed minerals as well as to abort higher export duties. NNT is a subsidiary of Newmont Mining Corporation that operates the Batu Hijau mine, an open pit copper and gold mine in Sumbawa.

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Subsidiary of US-based natural resources company Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc, Freeport Indonesia, decided to build its copper smelter in Gresik (East Java) as infrastructure around this regency makes it easier to transport its mining products for export purposes. The other location that Freeport was considering was in Papua, near its mining site the Grasberg mine, the world’s largest gold mine and third-largest copper mine. However, infrastructure in Papua (one of the poorest regions in Indonesia) is still underdeveloped.

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Freeport Indonesia, subsidiary of US-based natural resources company Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc, is optimistic that the Indonesian government will extend the company’s contract to operate the Grasberg mine in Papua (eastern Indonesia). This mine is the world’s largest gold mine and third-largest copper mine. The current contract between the Indonesian government and Freeport Indonesia expires in 2021. However, Freeport is currently in need of some certainty before investing a large amount on mining operations and smelting facilities.

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In the last 12 months, the international copper price showed a neutral movement (moving more or less sideways). This is particularly due to a number of issues in China, the world’s second largest economy, which impact negatively on the copper price movement. China has become such an important market for a variety of commodities, including copper (used in construction and electronics), that other countries can be considered almost irrelevant. Why do analysts have low expectations of the copper market for the remainder of 2014?

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