Mine operator PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara and its majority shareholder, Dutch entity Nusa Tenggara Partnership BV, are seeking relief from export restrictions that have halted production at the mine and “inflicted hardship and economic loss” on PTNNT’s 8000 employees, contractors and other stakeholders.

NTPBV is owned by Newmont and Nusa Tenggara Mining Corporation of Japan.

The partners are arguing that the Indonesian government’s new export conditions, new export duty and the January 2017 copper concentrate export ban violates their contract of work (CoW) and the bilateral investment treaty between Indonesia and the Netherlands.

In the filing made with the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, PTNNT and NTPBV have requested interim, injunctive relief to allow PTNNT to resume copper exports so that operations can be restarted.

“Despite our best efforts over the last six months to resolve the export issues through good faith commitments to support the government’s policy, PTNNT has been unable to convince the government that our CoW should guide resolution of our differences,” PTNNT president director Martiono Hadianto said.

“As a result, PTNNT and its shareholders are left with no option but to seek relief through international arbitration to ensure our stakeholders’ jobs, rights and interests are protected.”

Hadianto said the company wanted continued dialogue with the government to lead to a resolution outside of arbitration.

“In the meantime, we have an obligation to protect the value of Batu Hijau and the thousands of jobs it provides, as we are still unable to export copper concentrate due to the regulations.”

The inability to obtain an export permit prompted PTNNT to suspend the mine on June 1 when the concentrate storage facility reached capacity.

Many of the mine’s 8000 employees are on standby at reduced pay.

PTNNT expects to sell about 58,400 tonnes of concentrate to PT Smelting in Indonesia until the end of the year but the facility is unable to take enough concentrate to allow for operations at Batu Hijau to continue.

Batu Hijau produced 21,000 tonnes of copper and 16,000 ounces of gold in the March quarter and was previously expected to produce 110,000-125,000t copper and 135,000-150,000oz gold this year for Newmont.

Numerous studies have demonstrated that it is not economically viable for PTNNT to build its own smelter, though it is participating in a process with Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold over the development of an in-country smelter.

PTNNT has also negotiated and signed conditional concentrate supply agreements with two Indonesian companies that have publicly announced plans to build their own copper smelters in the country and is working to finalise a third such agreement.