Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Asks Freeport to Use Clean Energy in Mining Activities

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arifin Tasrif. (Photo: Doc. ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Arifin Tasrif asked PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) to start using clean energy to support mining business activities.

Arifin said this was a form of adaptation to the trend in world society which is shifting towards clean energy.

"Now world countries have started to raise the issue of cross-border carbon mechanisms. So, if cross-border goods whose basic industry has high carbon content, then they will be subject to tax. Singapore has started with 5 US dollars and it is estimated that the tax in 2050 it will be 50 US dollars," said Arifin, quoted Monday, November 11.

Arifin added that the policies of these countries must be immediately anticipated by companies in Indonesia, especially PTFI, so that they are not disadvantaged by imposing high taxes on products produced because their products have high carbon content.

"That's why I told Tony (President Director of PTFI) that the energy used to support this (mining at PTFI) must immediately be thought about using clean energy," continued Arifin.

Furthermore, Arifin said, clean energy sources are widely available in Indonesia, for example wind energy which has the potential to reach 500 gigawatts (GW) and is capital that can be utilized.

"Indonesia's renewable energy potential is very large, for example, for wind energy, according to company surveys from other countries, the potential is up to 500 GW, especially at an altitude of 140 meters. If the lower level is small, like Merauke's Pangandaran beach, it is small. said Arifin.

PTFI President Director Tony Wenas welcomed the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources' request to start using clean, low-emission energy in its mining activities.

"PTFI is committed to reducing the intensity of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions by 30 percent by 2030. In 2021, the reduction in GHG emissions in our operational activities will reach 22 percent (compared to 2018). Most of this is due to the transition from open pit mining to underground mining , where we use an underground automatic electric train system," said Tony.

Tony added that PTFI is also currently developing PLTMG or oil and gas fuel power plants.

The PLTMG will have a capacity of 168MW, and is expected to operate next year.

Tony said that copper metal is a product of the future because 65 percent of the world's copper products are used as electricity conductors and currently countries are competing to use clean energy generation so they will need even more copper.

"For example, an electric car requires four times more copper than a regular car because there is more cabling system and the battery contains copper. Then the Bayu PLT requires approximately 1.5 tons of copper for each megawatt and for the Solar PLT it also requires 5.5 tons of copper," explained Tony.