Indonesia finalized the transfer of majority control over a giant gold and copper mine from US company Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc, the government said on Friday, in a long-awaited deal.
Freeport McMoRan owned about 90 percent of the Grasberg mine since it began operating in Indonesia’s province of Papua in 1973.
The rest has been owned by the Indonesian government.
“Today is a historic moment,” Indonesian President Joko Widodo told a news conference at the presidential palace in Jakarta, which was attended by ministers of his Cabinet and Freeport-McMoRan chief executive officer Richard Adkerson.
“We will use this majority ownership entirely for people’s prosperity. Our income in tax, revenues and royalties will be bigger and better,” Widodo said.
The landmark US$3.85 billion deal to take over a 51.2 percent stake in PT Freeport Indonesia from the US company was paid by state-owned PT Inalum mining company after environmental and smelting issues were settled, Widodo said.
The two sides had been on a collision course since a presidential regulation in 2012 imposed a limit of 49 percent on the foreign ownership of companies issued new mining licenses. Foreign investors with ownership greater than 49 percent were required to sell shares to state-owned enterprises or privately owned Indonesian companies.
The mine in Papua, where a separatist movement simmers, has been the target of protests by Papuans who resent the region’s mineral wealth being exploited by the US and Indonesia.
Widodo said people in Papua would get 10 percent of the ownership and the regional taxes.
“This is what we have been waiting for a long time,” Widodo said. “It means we have settled all issues and work can start.”
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said second-quarter revenue is expected to surpass the first quarter, which rose 30 percent year-on-year to NT$118.92 billion (US$3.71 billion). Revenue this quarter is likely to grow, as US clients have front-loaded orders ahead of US President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on Taiwanese goods, Delta chairman Ping Cheng (鄭平) said at an earnings conference in Taipei, referring to the 90-day pause in tariff implementation Trump announced on April 9. While situations in the third and fourth quarters remain unclear, “We will not halt our long-term deployments and do not plan to
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
RSS