JAKARTA, Nov 24 — A parliamentary ethics probe into a meeting between the speaker of Indonesia’s house of representatives and officials from mining giant Freeport McMoRan should not delay the company’s divestment plans for its Indonesian unit, a mining ministry official said today.
Freeport Indonesia must sell the Indonesian government a greater share of its huge copper and gold mine in Papua as part of the process to extend its right to operate beyond 2021.
The divestment process came under scrutiny during the past week, with house speaker Setya Novanto under public pressure over alleged ethical misconduct during a meeting with Freeport officials. Novanto is a member of the opposition Golkar party.
Bambang Gatot, the coal and minerals director general, told Reuters that the ethics issues would not delay the divestment.
“I see it as a technical (process), while the parliament issue is separate,” he added. “The issues are not related.”
Freeport initially had until October 14 to submit a proposal on the value of the 10.6 per cent stake to be divested.
Earlier this month, Indonesia’s government warned Freeport that it must propose a price soon, or be considered in default of its obligations.
Gatot said government had not a set deadline. He added that the government would respond within 90 days, once Freeport’s proposal was received.
A Freeport Indonesia spokesman said that the company “has consistently advised the government that its shares will be divested at fair value following extension of its operations on mutually acceptable terms”.
The Indonesian government is looking to increase its ownership of Freeport Indonesia to 20 per cent from a current 9.36 per cent. A further 10 per cent must be divested to the government by the end of 2019. — Reuters
