Reuters reported that Richard Adkerson, President and CEO of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE:FCX), is worried about violence at the company's Grasberg mine in Indonesia, but is unconcerned about the government's plan to renegotiate mining contracts.
Indonesia is expected to impose a mining export tax that will eat at the bottom line of international copper producers and may well make the country less attractive to investors in the long run. Still, many analysts expect copper producers to be able to weather any policy changes and remain invested in the country, at least in the near term.
Indonesia is fortunate to be endowed with vast mineral wealth. The country is the world’s second largest producer of tin and nickel and, in 2009, according to the USGS, was the world’s fourth largest copper producer.
Bloomberg reported that Mitsubishi Materials (PINK:MIMTF) will increase output at its Indonesia-based Gresik smelter by2.2%.
The Indonesian unit of Newmont Mining Corp. expects copper production to rise by 60 percent this year as it starts to mine higher grade ore. For more information, click here
The Asian based Canadian mineral exploration company, East Asia Minerals Corporation, has begun their 3000 metre diamond drilling program within Aceh, Indonesia. The project is focusing on porphyry copper-gold. The first hole at Upper Tengkereng is now well advanced, and has been drilling in altered and copper mineralized porphyry from surface. An advanced argillic [...]
The controversial Grasberg mine, owned by Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. continues to be under attack from Indonesia’s Papua province rebels. The Free Papua Movement (OPM) have claimed responsibility for the bombings in the area and are demanding the closure of Grasberg. Freeport’s Grasberg mine — believed to have the world’s third-largest copper reserve [...]
PT Nusantara Smelting Corp intends to set up a copper smelter next year with a production capacity of 200,000 tonnes of copper cathode. The smelter will support the upcoming mining law that requires mining products to be processed locally prior to export. The mining law, which has been in the works for several years and [...]
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