Copper Supply From Top Mine Threatened as Export Ban Looms
- Concentrate exports from Grasberg to halt if rules not changed
- Freeport will have to cut back operations without a resolution
The Grasberg copper and gold mining complex in Papua province, Indonesia.
Photographer: Dadang Tri/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Exports from the world’s second-largest copper mine in Indonesia are under threat as a government ban on overseas concentrate shipments is scheduled to come into force from the middle of January.
While ministers are rushing to revise the regulations so miners that have committed to build smelters can continue to export ore concentrates, an intermediate product used to make copper, there’s no guarantee that the deadline will be met. The rules as they stand now only permit shipments of refined metal after Jan. 11.