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Jokowi threatens to take action if Freeport are 'difficult'
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Dig deeper – A heavy vehicle passes an open pit mining site at gold and copper miner PT Freeport Indonesia’s open pit facility in Grasberg, Tembagapura, Mimika, Papua. (JP/Nethy Dharma Somba)
P
resident Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said he would take action if prolonged negotiations with US mining giant Freeport McMoran faced difficulties.
"I want a win-win solution because this is a business matter. Currently, I’m leaving the negotiations to the ministers. However, if they [Freeport] are difficult, then I will take action," he said after launching the non-cash food subsidy card in Cibubur, East Jakarta, on Thursday.
The company has refused to accept the demand from the government that it convert its contract of work (CoW) into a special mining license (IUPK). The company argues that this would effectively annul its CoW signed in 1991.
Freeport does not want to give up the rights listed in its present CoW, including the protections to its long-term investments. Under the government’s new regulation, Freeport is required to divest up to 51 percent of its shares gradually and to develop smelters.
"We cannot just give up our rights that have been given to the CoW,” Freeport McMoRan president and CEO Richard C. Adkerson said in a press statement received by The Jakarta Post on Monday.
(Read also: Freeport seeks settlement)
Adkerson said Indonesian law had to reflect legal principles that could be accepted internationally. He said a contract constituted the law for the parties in the contract and this law could not be changed or arbitrarily terminated by one party. (bbn)
