Newmont Hoping to Sell Entire Indonesia Stake to Private Group – by Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – April 22, 2016)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

A potential sale of Newmont Mining Corp.’s Indonesian assets to a group of private investors could include a stake that the government has so far snubbed, according to the biggest U.S. gold miner.

Newmont is working with partner Sumitomo Corp. to sell both companies’ entire stakes in PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara, Chief Executive Officer Gary Goldberg said in a telephone interview on Thursday. The unit owns Batu Hijau, the second biggest copper and gold mine in Indonesia.

Through a holding company, Newmont and Sumitomo together own 56 percent of the unit. The remaining 44 percent is owned by local entities. The government has had the right to buy 7 percent of Newmont and Sumitomo’s share since 2010, Goldberg said. “They’ve shown no interest in acquiring it and haven’t figured out even when they could acquire it,” he said.

As a result, Newmont and Sumitomo are proceeding with efforts to sell their entire stake to investors, Goldberg said. He declined to identify the bidders but said they are yet to secure financing. Nor has Newmont secured the terms it wants for the assets, he said.

Indonesia banned raw ore shipments in January 2014 and put a progressive tax on concentrates, a semi-processed ore that’s shipped to smelters for processing into finished metal.

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