Rio Gets First Grasberg Copper Since `14 as Tug-of-War Grinds On

(Bloomberg) -- Rio Tinto Group has booked copper output from the giant Grasberg mine joint venture for the first time since 2014 -- just as the company weighs plans to exit the operation in Indonesia.

London-based Rio expects to receive 5,700 metric tons from the mine for 2017, according to its quarterly production report published Tuesday. The output is the producer’s first return from the operation, which has suffered supply disruptions, since getting 7,700 tons in 2014, filings show. Rio’s total mined copper output declined 9 percent in 2017 to 478,100 tons.

Under the first stage of a JV pact with operator Freeport-McMoRan Inc., Rio is currently entitled to the equivalent of 40 percent of output above an agreed threshold from the world’s second-largest copper mine. Rio has held talks with Indonesian groups, including state-owned PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium, known as Inalum, about a possible exit from its interest, people with knowledge of the matter said in October. Rio declined to comment.

Indonesia’s government is seeking to complete a negotiation with Phoenix-based Freeport before June to lift local control of the asset to 51 percent. Under a proposed transaction completion agreement, Inalum would seek to acquire Rio’s interest and convert the rights into an equity stake, people familiar with the proposal said last month.

To contact the reporter on this story: David Stringer in Melbourne at dstringer3@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jason Rogers at jrogers73@bloomberg.net, Keith Gosman, Jake Lloyd-Smith

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