New Wisdom Investment Limited

Permit agreement of Freeport in Indonesia will continue to be negotiated

(Jul 31, 2017)

Currently, Freeport-McMoRan is still negotiating with the Indonesian authorities on long-term stabilization treaties, government officials said the two sides have agreed on the new mining license terms.

T"The legal basis for the future work relationship is a licensed mining license (or IUPK), which is no longer a work contract," said Teguh Pamudji, secretary general of the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Wednesday. "The free port chief executive, Richard Adkerson, Said in a conference call that the goal of the Freeport was to allow the government to approve the extension of the existing contract period.

Pamudji said the Grasberg copper and gold mines will be operated under a licensed mining license until 2021, and the company will be able to seek two 10-year delays. Of course, it is assumed that the two sides can agree on mine ownership and investment requirements under the premise of the implementation of the agreement, and the two sides hope that the agreement in October this year, the free port of temporary mining license reached before the expiration date. Freeport has not yet commented on this.

Freeport chief executive Richard Adkerson said on Tuesday that the company's primary task is to ensure that the fair value of Grasberg copper mine in the form of stripping. He said that the 10% of the company's shares in the local market will be a good way to start further stripping, there may be the best way to find the value of assets.

"We advise the Indonesian government that the best way to divest the company is from the Indonesian Stock Exchange," Adkerson said at the company's second-quarter earnings conference call.

Freeport owns 81.28% of the shares of the Indonesian Freeport Company (PT-FI) and holds an indirect shareholding of 9.36% through the subsidiary. The Indonesian government has 9.36% of the remaining shares. Although the Freeport had previously said it agreed to raise the Indonesian government's shares to 30%, the Indonesian government is still gaining 51% of the holdings.

In addition, the Freeport also said that its goal is to continue to become copper and gold mine operators, and to master the "control" right. As the world's largest publicly traded copper producer, the company still has to retain the right to seek international arbitration to resolve the dispute and to make economic claims for the Indonesian government's failure to meet its new contract.