Phoenix-based copper and metals giant Freeport-McMoRan is responding to news out of Indonesia, where its Grasberg mine is located.
Senior politicians there now say the country is unlikely to meet a January deadline that would have eased a ban on mineral-ore exports.
The ban requires miners to build smelters to process ore locally and halt mineral exports.
Earlier this year, lawmakers said they hoped to revise the rules by September, giving miners more time to build the smelters required to process ore. A revision, if it went through, could allow miners at Freeport-McMoRan’s Indonesian location to export copper concentrate past January.
Freeport-McMoRan CEO Richard Adkerson said last week that consequences of the ban would be dire, forcing the company to cut back operations and curtail development of its Grasberg mine, where it is spending about $1 billion a year.
Adkerson also said he was confident the situation would be resolved, which now seems unlikely as the Indonesian parliament is in recess until early January.
