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February 20, 2025 | 02:21 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Prabowo Subianto has allowed PT Freeport Indonesia to resume the export of raw copper. This was revealed by the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Bahlil Lahadalia after attending the Indonesian Economic Summit (IES) agenda in Jakarta on Wednesday, February 19, 2025.
According to Bahlil, the decision is the result of approval from the limited meeting (Ratas) held by Prabowo earlier this week together with Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartanto and other relevant ministries.
"Yesterday we held a meeting led by President and then we sought a win-win alternative. The win-win is how to ensure that Freeport's production continues," said Bahlil.
He explained that regardless, 50 percent of Freeport's shares are owned by Indonesia. In other words, if Freeport's revenue decreases, the state's revenue will also decrease. More importantly, according to Bahlil, it is to prevent massive layoffs. Because, if the export permit continues to be withheld, there is potentially a massive termination of employment contracts.
"Because if not, then tens of thousands of employees will be laid off," he said.
However, the government still imposes sanctions on Freeport for continuing to export copper even though its export allocation has been exhausted in 2024. "The sanction is that we increase its export tax. So they pay more to the country than before," said Bahlil Lahadalia.
Previously, based on the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Regulation No. 7 of 2023, the export permit for PT Freeport's copper concentrate had expired on December 31, 2024. With this decision, they cannot export copper raw materials this year.
However, at the same time, Freeport experienced a fire at their smelter. This made them unable to process or downstream the concentrate. On the other hand, the concentrate storage also experienced overcapacity while the permit has not been issued.
This condition forced Freeport to reduce their production and automatically reduce revenue which impacts state revenue and the workers there. "If for example their stockpile is full, then their production will automatically decrease," said the Director General of Mineral and Coal (Dirjen Minerba) of the Ministry of ESDM Tri Winarno when met at his office on Friday, February 14, 2025.
Dani Aswara contributed to the writing of this article.
Editor's Choice: Freeport Copper Smelter to Resume Operations by June 2025, Says Minister Bahlil
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