Freeport Indonesia to process 400,000t of copper concentrate at new smelter
Earlier this month, Freeport obtained an export permit for the rest of the year from the government.
Following Martin Ferguson’s rash declaration last week that Australia’s mining boom had come to an end several leading economic experts have publicly refuted the Australian Resource Minister’s dire prognosis.
According to the West Australian the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia Glenn Stevens has said that there are no signs of an end to the Australian mining boom in the short-term, informing parliament on Friday that although the peak of resource investment could arrive within the next two years export shipments should subsequently increase.
Chief economist of the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics Quentin Grafton is also highly optimistic, heralding the China-backed rise in resource demand as the ‘big daddy’ of all economic booms, and stating that sales volumes will ‘continue to rise for quite a number of years to come.’
Ferguson’s remarks last week concerning the end of the Australian mining boom drew strong adverse attention from the domestic press, compelling Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Finance Minister Penny Wong to make statements directly contradicting their cabinet colleague, as well as Ferguson himself to issue a hasty retraction.
Read more>>
