Reva Sasistiya

Pukuafu Pledges Stake in Batu Hijau Mine for Loan

PT Pukuafu Indah has put up its 20 percent stake in PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara and all of its own shares as collateral for a $287 million loan from Newmont Mining, Newmont said in a statement on Wednesday.

Owned by Yusuf Mereukh, Pukuafu bought 20 percent of NNT in 1986. Newmont, through a subsidiary, owns 35.44 percent of NNT, which operates the lucrative Batu Hijau copper and gold mine in West Nusa Tenggara.

Two of Newmont’s subsidiaries, Newmont Indonesia and NVL USA, provided the loan, which matures on Dec. 31, 2019, the statement said.

NVL may also fund certain additional advances to extinguish other debt held by Pukuafu, it said. Pukuafu also pledged its own shares as collateral for the loan, the statement said.

Yusuf said the loan carried an annual interest rate of 6 percent.

Pukuafu will use the money to pay off debt used to develop the mine. Pukuafu spent $400 million developing the mine. To finance this it paid an interest rate of 14 percent annually to lenders, including US Exim Bank and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Trust Company.

Bambang Gatot Ariyono, director of minerals and coal at the Energy Ministry, said Pukuafu had not informed the government of the loans. “It is not the right thing to do. They should informed us,” he said.

Newmont’s 1986 contract of work with the central government requires it to divest 51 percent of NNT to domestic entities before the end of March 2010. Last month it sold a 24 percent stake in NNT in two stages to a consortium made up of three local governments and a Bakrie group subsidiary.

Pukuafu, meanwhile, has filed several lawsuits seeking legal recognition of its ownership of an additional 7 percent stake in NNT, which it claims to have bought from Newmont for $258 million in 2008. Newmont has rejected the claim.

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