Copper mine negotiations nearing end for Freeport, Jakarta

JAKARTA -- U.S. miner Freeport-McMoRan and the Indonesian government said intense negotiations over the future of a giant copper mine in Papua Province are headed toward an agreement by October, even though the key issue of divestment remains unresolved.

The two sides have been locked in a dispute after Indonesia's Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry rolled out new export regulations in January. The regulations require foreign mining companies like Freeport, which owns the Grasberg mine through its local unit Freeport Indonesia, to convert its old contract to a special mining license called an IUPK in order to resume exports of copper concentrate for another five years.