Batu Hijau, Indonesia
Photo by: PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara
DENVER, Colorado (miningweekly.com) – Senior gold producer Newmont on Tuesday morning reported that it expected to restart its shuttered Batu Hijau copper mine, in Indonesia, within six to eight weeks of receiving a permit.
Speaking at the Denver Gold Forum, CEO Gary Goldberg said after striking an agreement with the Indonesian government on September 3, it was now waiting for a permit to restart exports.
“While we would like this process to go faster, we appreciate that implementing new regulations takes time, particularly with a government that's in transition.
“We had made good progress at resuming exports and getting people back to work. Our team has prepared detailed start-up plans and we expect the mine and mill to be fully operational in six to eight weeks after receiving our new permit,” he highlighted.
Indonesia implemented a ban on mineral ore exports and introduced an escalating export tax for concentrates on January 12 to encourage mineral processing domestically in order to increase the value of exports.
As a result, Newmont and fellow US miner Freeport-McMoRan stopped copper/gold concentrate exports earlier this year.
Diversified miner Freeport-McMoRan clinched a deal with the Indonesian government late in July to end a six-month dispute over the controversial escalating tax on metal concentrates that resulted in all ore exports at one of the world's biggest copper mines, the Grasberg mine, being halted.
Effective with the signing of the memorandum of understanding, Newmont subsidiary PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara had agreed to pay export duties set forth in a new regulation issued in July, provide a $25-million assurance bond to demonstrate its support for smelter development, pay royalties of 4% for copper, 3.75% for gold and 3.25% for silver, and pay dead rent of $4/ha.
Late in July, the Indonesian Finance Ministry revised its January regulations to reduce export duties on copper concentrate for companies demonstrating support for the smelter development process. The revised regulations provided for export duties on copper concentrate to reduce as development progressed, with duties initially set at 7.5%, then declining to 5% when development progress exceeded 7.5% and finally to 0% when smelter progress exceeded 30%.