American miner Freeport McMoRan and Chinese steelmaker Tsingshan’s $2.5bn copper smelter deal has collapsed following pricing issues.
The deal for the 600,00mt per year capacity smelter was to be finalized on Mar 31, this year. However, Tsingshan asked for a 5pc discount on copper concentrate from Freeport’s Grasberg mine in Central Highlands, Papua, which the latter refused, noted Indonesian representatives of Freeport to the media on Wednesday.
Construction was slated to begin on Halmahera island in Eastern Indonesia, but now the project will be re-directed to its original site in Gresik, East Java province.