The two largest foreign-owned mining companies operating in Indonesia have brushed off “threats”, posed by a recent government announcement that they must increase domestic ownership in the country’s mineral resources. At present it doesn’t seem clear whether such ownership would be vested in the state per se – thus amounting to nationalisation – or in Indonesian-registered enterprises. Until this is clarified, we won’t know whether the proposal will affect companies, such as Bumi Resources plc, based in the UK. Through its affiliates, this is the largest global thermal coal producer, currently owned 47% by the Bakrie Group, 10% by Bukit Mutiara – both Indonesian – and 10% by Nat Rothschild of London.
See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11550.