Antam is collaborating with the Regional Government of Papua to work on the Wabu gold mine, with an estimated capex of US $ 1.4 billion

ILLUSTRATION. The atmosphere of gold drilling at the Pongkor Gold Mining Business Unit (UBPE) owned by PT. Aneka Tambang Tbk (ANTM). KONTAN / Baihaki.

Reporter: Ridwan Nanda Mulyana | Editor: Herlina Kartika Dewi

KONTAN.CO.ID – JAKARTA. PT Aneka Tambang Tbk (ANTM) was assigned to manage the Wabu Block. The holding of a state-owned mining company, Mining and Industry Indonesia (MIND ID) ensures that it will collaborate with the Regional Government (Pemda) of Papua in managing the gold mine as a result of shrinking the PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) area.

President Director of MIND ID Oria Petrus Moedak said that after receiving the results of the shrinkage of the PTFI area which were then returned to the central government, the Papua Regional Government wanted the management of the Wabu Block through cooperation with BUMN.

Then, the Governor of Papua has also sent a letter to the Ministry of BUMN and MIND ID to apply for cooperation in working on the gold mine.

“The structure of our regulation is like that, the local government hands over the areas that are included as mining areas to the central government for a determination. The local government has also proposed cooperation with MIND ID,” said Orias when met at the DPR RI Building, Tuesday (29/9).

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Considering that the Wabu Block mining commodity is gold, BUMN Minister Erick Thohir has assigned Antam to work on it.

“According to the direction from the SOE Minister, it will be handed over to Antam because Antam has always been an expert in handling gold,” continued Orias.

He has not yet revealed the scheme and portion of the cooperation between the Papua and Antam governments. He said, the details of the cooperation were still being discussed with the Papua Regional Government.

As an illustration, the scheme to be used is similar to a joint venture through the Papua Regional Owned Enterprises (BUMD) in the distribution of shares in PTFI.

“The technicalities (cooperation) will be discussed with the Governor. Yes, we have collaborated with the Papua Regional Government in ownership of Freeport shares,” explained Orias.