Indonesia to Delay Mining Contracts

Indonesia’s government plans to put mining contracts on hold until it’s certain of the size of Calgary, Canada-based Bre-X Minerals Ltd.’s Busang deposit. The delay will affect dozens of companies, including Canada’s Indomin Resources Ltd., Placer Dome Inc. and Barrick Gold Corp., that want to do exploration work in the country. Bre-X won’t receive its permit until the size of the deposit is known, said Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, Indonesia’s director general of mining. Shares of Bre-X tumbled more than 80% on Thursday as they resumed trading after New Orleans-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., which has a provisional agreement to buy 15% of the deposit, said the site may contain only “insignificant” quantities of gold. Bre-X President David Walsh said that he stands by the company’s estimate that the mine contains at least 70.9 million ounces of gold, enough to make it the world’s largest deposit.