JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Indonesian President Joko Widodo called for faster progress to wrap up a deal with Freeport-McMoRan Inc. on rights to the giant Grasberg copper mine, which the U.S. firm owns, officials said today.
The chief executive of the world's biggest publicly traded copper company -- which under a framework deal in August agreed to divest 51 percent of the mine -- held talks with officials in Jakarta earlier in the day.
The deal is intended to replace an existing contract with a "special mining permit" and give Jakarta greater control over its mineral resources.
But significant differences remain including on how Grasberg, the world’s second-largest copper mine, will be valued and on the timing and structure of the required divestment, leading some analysts to raise doubts about the future of the agreement. ...
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