Newmont’s contract amendment signing by the end of this month might have to be postponed following recent appointment of new officials at the Mineral and Coal Directorate General of the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry.
In addition, the Energy Ministry and the Finance Ministry are drafting financial requirements for mining companies as well as renegotiating their contracts.
Bambang Gatot Ariyono, director general of mineral and coal, confirmed that the contract amendment signing would have to be postponed since the discussion has yet been continued.
“[The discussion] with Newmont has yet been continued. It has to be postponed since there’s only one week before the end of this month,” he said on Friday, May 23, 2014 in Jakarta.
Despite the postponement, the Mineral and Coal Directorate General has yet set a date to resume the talks.
Mohammad Hidayat, director of mining development, admitted that he has not been in talks with Newmont. He declined to comment further on the postponement of the contract amendment signing.
“I didn’t say whether [the contract amendment signing] would be postponed. But we keep working on it. In terms of the talks, we’ll see about that,” he said.
TEMPO
