Freeport may lose chunk of Grasberg

Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX-N) may have to sell a 9.36% of its massive Grasberg project in Indonesia to local entities.

Reuters reports that Indonesia’s minister of mines said on Dec. 27 that if local governments in Papua the province Grasberg is situated in don’t buy the stake, it would ask to hold a tender for the stake.

While the Indonesian government says under Indonesian rules the company should to sell the roughly US$800 million stake to Indonesian entities, reports say there has been no response from the regional government in Papua to the proposal.

Grasberg is the world’s second biggest copper mine.

Freeport holds a 90% stake in Grasberg after buying the 9.36% from Indonesian firm PT Indocopper Investama in 2002.

In New York on Dec. 27, Freeport shares were up just over 3% or US$1.71 to US$56.25 on nearly 4 million shares traded.

On Dec. 26 the company announced that it had secured U.S. antitrust authorities approval for its bid to acquire Phelps Dodge (PD-N).