Freeport to resume copper concentrate imports from Indonesia in this month, say sources

Freeport McMoRan will resume copper concentrate shipments from Indonesia in this month, under a newly issued export licence. The previous one expired in December.

Indonesia has limited raw material exports in order to force companies to refine minerals and add value to their exports. Freeport, which has its own local refinery capacity, is trying to maintain exports of concentrate after a fire at the Manyar smelter in East Java last October.

According to a source who has direct knowledge of the situation, the miner will begin loading cargoes bound for China by Friday in anticipation of receiving a licence to export by month's end.

Second source says that a shipment of copper concentrator from the mine at Grasberg - the second largest copper mine in the world - is expected to leave by the end of February.

Storage is becoming a major problem. The first source stated that we need to begin shifting it.

Last week, Indonesia's Trade Ministry said it would support Freeport in resuming its copper concentrate exports.

PT Freeport Indonesia has not responded to any questions regarding the shipments that were sent via text. Separately, a spokesperson stated that they hoped the government would accept a plan for exports to resume.

Indonesia's Mining Ministry did not answer questions regarding the text messages sent by Indonesian miners.

Freeport sold cargoes of concentrate copper in January, with the condition that they would only be effective if the export license was renewed. This is according to a third person with knowledge of the situation.

If exports resumed, they would relieve but not reverse a copper concentrate shortage that had impacted the profits of smelters.

Treatment charges, which are fees that miners pay to smelters to convert raw materials into metal, were at a negative $12.50 per ton on the 7th of February. This was the lowest ever recorded level in Fastmarkets index data dating back to 2013. Amy Lv and Pratima Dasai reported from Beijing, Fransiska Naangoy contributed additional reporting in Jakarta and Lewis Jackson and Jan Harvey edited the article.

(source: Reuters)