Batu Hijau To Ramp Down Production

 

JAKARTA – PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (PTNNT) reported that the Batu Hijau copper and gold mine in Indonesia in Sumbawa Barat expects to ramp down production, unless ongoing discussions with the government lead to completion of the process to secure an initial export permit.
Batu Hijau's copper concentrate storage facilities will reach capacity in late May, requiring an orderly ramp down of operations. Once the mine's copper concentrate storage is filled, PTNNT will move to cease mining and milling. Before the new export rules, Newmont forecast copper concentrate output for 2014 at 110,000-125,000 tones.
While talks with the government continue, the company will continue to ship and sell copper concentrate to PT Smelting throughout 2014. It is unable to export the rest of the concentrate, which the government says is liable to a 25 percent export tax, rising to 60 percent in the second half of 2016, before a total concentrate export ban takes effect in 2017.