1) CEO resigns after force majeure on copper
2) Freeport Indonesia chief resigns as dispute over mining policy intensifies
3) 5.1-Magnitude Quake Hits Jayapura
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1) CEO resigns after force majeure on copper
Posted 18 Feb 2017 23:00
JAKARTA: Chappy Hakim, chief executive of miner Freeport-McMoran Inc's Indonesian unit, has resigned, the company said on Saturday, after the parent firm declared force majeure on copper concentrate shipments from its Grasberg mine in Papua.
Freeport, which has been negotiating with the Indonesian government after halting exports due to new mining rules, said on Friday it could not meet contractual obligations for copper concentrate shipments from the giant mine following a five-week export stoppage.
JAKARTA: Chappy Hakim, chief executive of miner Freeport-McMoran Inc's Indonesian unit, has resigned, the company said on Saturday, after the parent firm declared force majeure on copper concentrate shipments from its Grasberg mine in Papua.
Freeport, which has been negotiating with the Indonesian government after halting exports due to new mining rules, said on Friday it could not meet contractual obligations for copper concentrate shipments from the giant mine following a five-week export stoppage.
"I have decided it is in the best interests of PTFI (Freeport Indonesia) and my family to step down from my duties as president director while continuing to support the company in an advisory role," Hakim said in a company statement.
A Freeport Indonesia spokesman said he could not confirm who Hakim's successor would be.
Freeport was the second big copper producer in a week to declare force majeure, after BHP Billiton did so on Feb. 10 for Escondida in Chile, where a strike had grounded the world's largest mine.
Grasberg was expected to produce 800,000 tonnes of copper in 2017, about 3.5 percent of global supply, said Jefferies analyst Chris LaFemina. Coupled with Escondida, the mines represent some 10 percent of global supply, he said.
Under new mining rules that Indonesia introduced in January, Freeport had to switch from the contract of work it had operated under since 1967 to a special mining permit before applying for export permits.
The new permit requires Freeport to pay taxes and royalties it was previously exempt from and divest up to 51 percent of its Indonesian unit, an increase from a previously set 30 percent. To date, it has divested 9.36 percent.
Indonesia's Mining Minister Ignasius Jonan on Saturday said Freeport had refused the government's offer of a six-month transition period in which the company can negotiate terms for its new mining permit.
Freeport could begin exporting again if it agreed to the transition period, Jonan said.
His ministry on Friday recommended that Freeport be allowed to export 1.1 million tonnes of copper concentrates until Feb. 16, 2018.
The recommendation was conditional on Freeport accepting the special permit, said the parent company's spokesman Eric Kinneberg, repeating that the Phoenix, Arizona-based miner would only agree to a permit that provided the same fiscal and legal protection as currently.
Jonan said that bringing the dispute to an arbitrator could hurt the relationship between the company and the government.
"But it would be a much better step rather than always using the issue of firing workers as a tool to pressure the government," Jonan said.
(Reporting by Agustinus Beo Da Costa; Additional reporting by Wilda Asmarini; Writing by Gayatri Suroyo and Susan Taylor; Editing by Ed Davies and John Stonestreet)
- Reuters
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2) Freeport Indonesia chief resigns as dispute over mining policy intensifiesJakarta | Sat, February 18, 2017 | 05:16 pm
PT Freeport Indonesia announced on Saturday the immediate resignation of Chappy Hakim as its president director, only three months after his appointment as the mining giant's top executive.
In a press release, Freeport Indonesia did not specify when Chappy, a retired air chief marshal, would officially step down. However, it said he would move to an advisory role with the company.
“Serving as Freeport Indonesia president director involves an extraordinary commitment of time. I have decided it is in the best interests of Freeport Indonesia and my family to step down from my duties as president director while continuing to support the company in an advisory role,” Chappy said as quoted in the release.
(Read also: Freeport seeks to dodge piling problems)
Chappy's resignation occurred as the company, a subsidiary of United States-based Freeport-McMoRan, fights against complying with the government’s latest mining policy, which stipulates that miners must convert their current contracts of work (CoWs) into special mining permits (IUPKs) in exchange for permission to continue exporting certain mineral ores and concentrates.
Freeport has repeatedly said it would not agree to the contract conversion unless the government provided assurance of long-term investment stability, consisting of fiscal and legal certainty, in accordance with its CoW signed in 1991.
Freeport-McMoRan CEO and president Richard C. Adkerson thanked Chappy for his contributions to the company.
“We understand that this was a difficult decision for Pak Chappy to make. We appreciate his service to our company and his support. We look forward to his continued advice and counsel,” he said.
Chappy, also known as an aviation industry expert and prolific writer, was appointed as Freeport Indonesia’s top executive in November. The company previously appointed retired military officer Air Vice Marshall (ret.) Maroef Sjamsoeddin as president director. (hwa
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SATURDAY, 18 FEBRUARY, 2017 | 08:54 WIB
3) 5.1-Magnitude Quake Hits Jayapura
TEMPO.CO, Jayapura - An earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale shook the Papua provincial capital of Jayapura on Friday night, forcing local residents to rush outdoors.
The epicenter of the quake which struck at 08.21 p.m. local time was located 53 km northwest of Jayapura district at a depth of 12 km, chief of the Angkasapura geophysics station Cahyo Nugroho said.
The quake was strongly felt by people living in Jayapura city, Jayapura district, and Keerom district, Nugroho said.
There was no immediate report of casualties or material damage.
ANTARA
The epicenter of the quake which struck at 08.21 p.m. local time was located 53 km northwest of Jayapura district at a depth of 12 km, chief of the Angkasapura geophysics station Cahyo Nugroho said.
The quake was strongly felt by people living in Jayapura city, Jayapura district, and Keerom district, Nugroho said.
There was no immediate report of casualties or material damage.
ANTARA
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