Contract of Work (CoW) negotiations have started on Southern Arc Minerals’ Taliwang copper-gold prospect on Sumbawa Island, Indonesia.

Formal negotiations are taking place between a joint government team and the company. The joint government team comprises representatives from the central, provincial and regency levels of government.

A draft CoW document was submitted previously by the company to both the central and local regulating authorities.

Central government negotiating team members, who have participated in all previous and current generation CoW negotiations, indicated to the company that they have taken only three to four meetings to finalize similar CoW documents with other mining companies, and that in general there is little or no difference between the submitted draft and the final CoW document.

Exploration companies that have recently completed or are negotiating their CoW agreements include Barrick Gold Corporation, Rio Tinto, East Asia Minerals, BHP-Antam and Indomines.

Under Indonesian Mining Law, the conduct of foreign companies involved in mineral exploration, development and production in Indonesia is regulated by the CoW, which is a comprehensive contract between the Government of Indonesia and an Indonesian-foreign mining company.

The Taliwang Property is a 31,204-hectare mineral concession granted to the company under a Contract of Work application. It is on west Sumbawa Island, immediately north of the CoW that hosts Newmont's Batu Hijau porphyry copper-gold mine.

Taliwang holds a number of prospects, including the Lemonga epithermal vein complex on which a two-phase, 56-hole diamond drilling program has been completed by Southern Arc.

www.southernarcminerals.com