Mayoritas Saham Freeport Indonesia jadi Sorotan Utama Media Asing
Indonesia Takes Majority Stake in Massive Grasberg Mine
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
KABAR tentang Indonesia menguasai 51% saham senilai Rp56 triliun dari Freeport-McMoran, raksasa pertambangan AS di tambang Grasberg, Papua seperti diumumkan Presiden RI Joko Widodo menjadi berita utama di media asing.
Pengumuman itu akhirnya mengakhiri upaya Indonesia menguasai mayoritas saham Freeport sebagai salah satu tambang emas dan tembaga terbesar di dunia.
Perusahaan tambang milik BUMN, Inalum, akan mendapatkan saham mayoritas di tambang Grasberg, dari hanya di bawah 10 persen sekarang, kata Inalum melalui pernyataan resminya.
Sepuluh persen saham Inalum akan diserahkan ke pemerintah daerah Papua.
Presiden RI Joko Widodo, yang mendorong Freeport untuk melepaskan kendali atas operasi penambangannya di Papua, mengatakan kesepakatan itu berarti lebih banyak pajak dan pendapatan royalti bagi pemerintah.
"Hari ini juga merupakan momen bersejarah, Freeport telah beroperasi di Indonesia sejak 1973," katanya dalam pernyataan yang disiarkan televisi.
"Kami akan menggunakan kepemilikan mayoritas untuk kesejahteraan rakyat."
Perjanjian tersebut berarti Freeport akan menyerahkan kepemilikan sahamnya tetapi akan tetap mengoperasikan kompleks besar di hutan-hutan di provinsi Papua Indonesia hingga tahun 2041.
CEO Freeport Richard Adkerson mengatakan kesepakatan itu memberikan jaminan keberlangsungan usaha yang sangat dibutuhkan bagi perusahaan.
Pengumuman ini muncul setelah hampir dua tahun negosiasi untuk terkait masa depan operasi Freeport di Indonesia.
Freeport dan perusahaan asing lainnya yang beroperasi di Indonesia telah diperintahkan untuk mematuhi aturan kepemilikan pertambangan baru yang dirancang untuk memberi peluang pemerintah atas kendali lebih besar atas sumber dayanya yang berlimpah seperti dikutip AFP yang dilansir MailOnline.
INDONESIA on Friday finalised a $3.8 billion deal with US mining giant Freeport-McMoRan to take a 51 percent stake in the giant Grasberg mine, the president said.
The announcement finally brings an end to a fierce standoff between Freeport and the government over rights to one of the world´s biggest gold and copper mines.
Indonesian state-owned mining firm Inalum will get the majority interest in the Grasberg mine, from just under 10 percent now, the company said in a statement.
Ten percent of the Inalum stake will go to the Papua regional government.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who pushed for Freeport to relinquish control of its Papuan mining operations, said the deal means more tax and royalties revenue for the government.
"Today is also a historical moment, Freeport has operated in Indonesia since 1973," he said in a televised statement.
"We will use the majority ownership for the people´s prosperity."
The agreement means Freeport will cede its ownership stake but will keep operating the huge complex in the jungles of Indonesia´s Papua province until 2041.
Freeport CEO Richard Adkerson said the deal provided much needed security for the company.
The announcement comes after nearly two years of see-saw negotiations about the future of Freeport´s operations in the Southeast Asian nation.
The company and Indonesia´s government have sparred over the ownership structure of Grasberg and its social and environmental impact, including how the firm manages mine waste known as tailings.
Freeport and other foreign firms operating in Indonesia have been ordered to comply with new mining ownership rules designed to give the country more control of its plentiful resources.
The mine is a frequent flashpoint in Papua´s struggle for independence from Indonesia and has fuelled resentment over how much locals benefit from the region´s resources.
Papua, on the western half of New Guinea island, has been the scene of a simmering independence insurgency since it was annexed by Jakarta in the late 1960s.
