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resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration has said it would soon decide on follow-up actions in response to the Supreme Audit Agency’s (BPK) findings of nearly US$13 billion in environmental losses allegedly caused by the mining activities of gold and copper giant PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) in Papua.

Results of the audit into PTFI, a subsidiary of American mining giant Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), is being assessed by the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, a mining official said Tuesday.

After concluding the assessment, the ministry will meet this week with the Environment and Forestry Ministry “to decide on further steps,” said Lydia Hardiani, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry’s head of mineral and coal mining safety. “We still don’t know how [the BPK] calculated [the loss].”

The BPK told the press on Monday that PTFI had yet to follow up on the agency’s findings.

“It has been 333 days since we issued our report, but [PTFI] has not responded to it,” said BPK commissioner Rizal Djalil.

The audit, which looked into the implementation of PTFI’s contract of work (CoW) during the fiscal years of 2013 to 2015, discovered that the biggest loss incurred by the miner’s operations was in the form of environmental damages.

This included the disposal of mining waste in bodies of water and forests, which the BPK estimated had led to Rp 185.01 trillion ($12.95 billion) in state losses.

At the time of writing, the Environment and Forestry Ministry’s director general for law enforcement, Rasio Ridho Sani, had not responded to The Jakarta Post’s request for comment.

According to the BPK’s findings, PTFI also breached Indonesia’s forestry regulations by using 4,535.9 hectares of protected forest areas, which have been subject to non-tax state revenue (PNBP) since 2008. This means that PTFI’s use of the land may have resulted in state losses of up to Rp 270.83 billion in the form of PNBP during the 2008-2015 period.

The agency also discovered the disbursement of excess reclamation funds of up to Rp 19.43 billion for reclamation activities at overlapping blocks.

PTFI — which started operating in restive Papua in 1967, at a time when then-president Soeharto openly welcomed big foreign investment — has also allegedly failed to pay post-mining funds of up to $22.28 million for the 2016 period as a guarantee for the environmental revitalization of areas impacted by the company’s mining activities.

PTFI spokesman Riza Pratama said the miner had thoroughly “documented, monitored and managed” its impact on the environment.

The Environment and Forestry Ministry imposed administrative sanctions on PTFI in October 2017 for violating the terms of its environment permit.

Ideally, Freeport’s compliance to environmental requirements should be a prerequisite for ongoing negotiations regarding the future of its operation in Papua, said Maryati Abdullah, the national coordinator of non-governmental organization (NGO) Publish What You Pay Indonesia, which focuses on promoting a transparent mining industry.

“This problem,” she said, referring to the alleged environmental damage reported by the BPK, “must be addressed first before concluding the negotiation.”

Indonesia has been involved in intense negotiations with PTFI since early 2017 over the latter’s future in the country. PTFI currently operates the Grasberg mine, the world’s largest gold mine and second-largest copper mine.

The government has demanded that FCX increase Indonesian ownership of PTFI to 51 percent from the current 9.36 percent, among other things, in return for an extension of the miner’s operating permit. PTFI is also expected to convert its CoW into a special mining permit (IUPK) and build a new smelter by 2022.

The government expects to purchase the remaining 41.64 percent of PTFI’s shares at the fairest price through a program involving Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto and PT Indocopper Investama, another Freeport-McMoRan subsidiary that also controls 9.36 percent of PTFI.

Jokowi has demanded that talks be concluded by April, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignasius Jonan said on March 5.

“[Preserving the] environment has become an international concern, which is all the more reason for the government to demand legal responsibility from Freeport,” said Ahmad Redi, a mining law expert from Tarumanegara University.