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.”
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