Indonesia seeks meeting with Freeport CEO to end copper mine dispute – by Wilda Asmarini and Fergus Jensen (Reuters U.S. – July 11, 2017)

https://www.reuters.com/

JAKARTA/SINGAPORE – Indonesia says it will invite the head of mining giant Freeport McMoRan Inc to Jakarta this month to try to settle a festering dispute over a new deal to operate the world’s second-largest copper mine.

The Arizona-based company resumed copper concentrate exports from the mammoth Grasberg mine in April after a 15-week outage related to the argument over mining rights, but a permanent solution to the row is yet to be found.

Uncertainty over output from the mine buoyed international copper prices earlier in the year, with Indonesia a key supplier of the metal to top consumer China.

Any meeting with Freeport CEO Richard Adkerson would be attended by mineral resources minister Ignasius Jonan and finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, mining ministry secretary general Teguh Pamuji said late on Monday.

A U.S.-based Freeport spokesman declined to confirm whether Adkerson would attend the planned meeting, but said both sides continued “to work toward reaching a mutually positive resolution to support our long-term investment plans”.

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