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Freeport secures permit for copper concentrate exports until mid-year
Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia acknowledged that, with the mining company’s smelter currently offline, Indonesia risked losing billions in revenue and thousands of jobs.
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PT Freeport Indonesia's Manyar copper smelter and refinery in Gresik, East Java, are pictured under construction on Feb. 29, 2024. (JP/Divya Karyza)
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T Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) has secured a permit to export copper concentrate until the end of June, granting it an exception from a Trade Ministry regulation banning such exports since the end of last year.
The decision to allow shipments by PFTI comes in response to a fire at the company’s smelter in Gresik, East Java, last October, which has halted production.
Deputy Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Yuliot Tanjung emphasized that this was not a relaxation of Indonesia’s downstream policy, which prohibits raw mineral exports, but rather a necessary response to a case of “force majeure”.
Since December, around 400,000 tonnes of copper concentrate have been stuck in limbo, being neither exported nor processed.
"If we don’t allow exports amid this situation, upstream [mining] production would halt, affecting the process and causing layoffs," Yuliot said on Thursday.
On Feb. 19, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia acknowledged that with PTFI’s smelter offline, Indonesia risked losing billions in revenue and thousands of jobs.
As a result, the government opted for “a middle ground” to grant an export extension until mid-year but warned of sanctions if the firm failed to complete the smelter repairs by then.
