Mimika Urges DPR To Allow Freeports To Export Copper Concentrate

Timika, Papua, June 24 (Antara) - The district administration of Mimika, Papua, urges the Commission VII of the House of Representatives (DPR) to lobby the government into allowing PT Freeport Indonesia to export copper concentrate. The company has since January stopped exports of copper concentrate in compliance with the Law No. 4 of 2009 banning exports of unprocessed mineral ores. The law requires mineral producers to process their ore in the country , but after given time since the law was announced in 2009 few producers have built their smelters to process their ore or concentrate. Freeport Indonesia and Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT), which dominate copper production in the country, are allowed to continue exporting concentrate with a certain export tax. Freeport Indonesia and NNT are both subsidiaries of US companies, accounting for more than 90 percent of the country`s copper production. Freeport has large copper and gold mines in Papua and NNT produces copper and gold from Nusa Tenggara. They are given more time until 2007 to fully comply with the law and for that purpose they are required to pay guarantee fund to show that they are serious in building their smelters. Head of the Mimika district mining and energy office Petrus Yumte told Antara news agency here on Tuesday the impact of the Law No. 4 of 2009 began to bite . Freeport has been forced to cut its copper and gold production by as much as 40 percent just enough to feed the copper smelter in Gresik, East Java. "We fully support the implementation of the law to promote processing industry in the country. However, under a difficult condition, we hope the government , while encouraging the construction of smelters , would also give facilities to the producers like Freeport to export their mineral products. Otherwise, the regency of Mimika and the local people will also suffer together with Freeport," Petrus Yumte said. He said the Mimika district administration hopes that it could rely on the Commission VII to pass through its request. The legislators of the Commission VII plan to visit Timika on Thursday. The working visit to Timika is expected to be more than a formality visit, but it should encourage the lawmakers to convince the government of the need to be more flexible in implementing the Law No. 4 of 2009, Petrus said . "We hope the DPR could help discuss the condition in Mimika with the government through the ministry of energy and mineral resources. The visit should not be just to waist time like previous visits which had no benefit for the district administrations. No proposal submitted by the district administration had been accommodated," he added. The condition being faced by Freeport would have significant effect on the state revenues in taxes, royalty , etc. It will also means bad news for the economy of Mimika which has relied more on income in taxes, royalty and other levies from Freeport, Petrus said . The program of community development by the LPMAK (Amungme and Kamoro Community Development Institute) would also be in vain, he said. He said LPMAK as a non profit agency already stopped offering scholarship for local students as it has received much less donation from Freeport.