Freeport Plans Building 1,000-Kilometer Underground Tunnel TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - PT. Freeport plans to build a 1,000-kilometer underground tunnel, which is expected to be the world’s longest underground tunnel. "The existing tunnel (that the company has) is only 400-kilometer long and has a circular shape," said Freeport Indonesia President Director RozikSutjipto. Rozik said the building of the tunnel is a measure taken by the company to cope with the exhaustion of gold ore supply in the surface by 2016. "It will force us to convert our products," he said. He stated that with the new tunnel, PT Freeport would be able to add 2.5 billion ton supply of ore, both with gold and silver content, and US$9.8 billion will be prepared to build the tunnel. He further said the design and the development capacity of the tunnelwill be completed between 2019 and 2020. "In 2013, we have allocated US$1 billion for the preparation of underground mining," Rozik said. Rozik hopes that PT. Freeport’s contract re-negotiation with the government, which will be terminated in 2021, could be immediately finished. He said that if renegotiation is finished, the building of the tunnel will soon be underway and the supply of gold ore will be available until 2057. In the meantime, Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Hatta Rajasa said the government would still hold a series of negotiations with Freeport. The minister also said that he was upbeat that the re-negotiation would be finished by 2014. "We can’t hurry the renegotiation process. It’s still ongoing," Hatta said.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Jul 2013 08:39:54 +0000
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