Loading ...Freeport McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) and Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) signed Thursday final agreements that give Indonesia a majority stake in their Grasberg copper mine, the world’s second-largest, and which would be transferred to the state-owned mining company PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum).
The “definitive” and “binding” agreements end a long-drawn-out, three-way dispute over the mine, centred on bringing Indonesian ownership up to 51%, a main requisite set by the government to allow Freeport-McMoRan, operator of Grasberg, to keep doing so.
It could also bring closure to years of disagreements between the Phoenix, Arizona-based copper miner and the country’s government, which last year curbed output at the mine, impacting metals prices worldwide.
Freeport, Rio formally yield control of giant Grasberg mine to Indonesia