Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) divestment of a controlling interest in PT Freeport Indonesia is still planned for 2018, even though the price and some contract terms are still to be agreed, the head of state mining holding company PT Inalum said. Inalum, which is arranging funding for the deal, already has a “committed” loan for the transaction with Freeport and Rio Tinto Limited (ASX:RIO) for the majority stake in Grasberg, Inalum's Budi Gunadi Sadikin told a briefing on May 8, 2018, on the sidelines of the Coaltrans Asia conference in Bali. Indonesian President Joko Widodo had instructed his administration to complete negotiations to buy a majority stake in the world's second-biggest copper mine by end-April 2018.

This includes buying Rio Tinto's participating interest, which entitles it to a 40% share of all production after 2022, and converting that holding into shares in the mine. But Freeport said last month that new environmental demands from Indonesia's government on managing mine waste could delay a new contract for its massive Grasberg copper mine, and in turn could throw the timing of divestment into question. Freeport has said that divestment of a majority stake must be part of a package that guarantees its long-term right to Grasberg and fiscal certainty as well.

Freeport Chief Executive Richard Adkerson said “The perception is that in Indonesia the regulations change easily, (which) makes it difficult for them to calculate their finances. Freeport Indonesia would remain mine operator after divestment and we're getting closer and closer to a deal and that it could still be concluded in 2018. Price was still one of the central issues in talks over the deal.

It's just a matter of meeting at a point where everyone is slightly grumpy. If one side is happy and one side is very grumpy it's not good”.