Indonesia commodity export policy turnaround rattles miners

Jakarta

INDONESIA rewrote its mineral export rules in a surprise shift of policy that rattled mining companies from the US to Japan and sent copper prices to the highest in a month.

Nickel producers from Sumitomo Metal Mining Co to Nickel Asia Corp tumbled after South-east Asia's biggest economy said it will allow some exports of nickel ore and bauxite, easing a ban on unprocessed ore shipments in place since 2014. Freeport-McMoRan Inc, the US company that operates the world's second-largest copper mine in the province of Papua, dropped after the government said it must change its operating terms before it can ship overseas. Nickel fell in London while copper rose.