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AKARTA: PT Freeport Indonesia, operator of the Grasberg gold and cooper mine in Papua, announced on Friday that it would replace outgoing president director Armando Mahler with former public works minister Rozik B. Soetjipto a new.

Rozik will be assisted by an executive committee chaired by Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold chief executive Richard Adkerson, while Armando will serve as a senior advisor to the committee, the company said.

“The new management organization will enable us to renew our commitment to operate the Grasberg mine in a safe, efficient and world-class fashion for the benefit of our employees, the local community, and the republic of Indonesia,” Rozik said in a statement sent to The Jakarta Post.

Rozik has served on Freeport’s board of commissioners since 2000. He is a mining engineering graduate of the Bandung Institute of Technology and obtained a master’s degree and a doctorate in metallurgical engineering from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium.

He held various senior positions at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, including a post as the director general of mines from 1998 to 1999, and as Public Works Minister from 1999 to 2000.