Grasberg was expected to produce 800,000 tonnes of copper in 2017, about 3.5 percent of global supply, said Jefferies analyst Chris LaFemina. Coupled with Escondida, the mines represent some 10 percent of global supply, he said.

Under new mining rules that Indonesia introduced in January, Freeport had to switch from the contract of work it had operated under since 1967 to a special mining permit before applying for export permits.

The new permit requires Freeport to pay taxes and royalties it was previously exempt from and divest up to 51 percent of its Indonesian unit, an increase from a previously set 30 percent. To date, it has divested 9.36 percent.

Indonesia’s Mining Minister Ignasius Jonan on Saturday said Freeport had refused the government’s offer of a six-month transition period in which the company can negotiate terms for its new mining permit.

Freeport could begin exporting again if it agreed to the transition period, Jonan said.

His ministry on Friday recommended that Freeport be allowed to export 1.1 million tonnes of copper concentrates until Feb. 16, 2018.

The recommendation was conditional on Freeport accepting the special permit, said the parent company’s spokesman Eric Kinneberg, repeating that the Phoenix, Arizona-based miner would only agree to a permit that provided the same fiscal and legal protection as currently.

Jonan said that bringing the dispute to an arbitrator could hurt the relationship between the company and the government.

“But it would be a much better step rather than always using the issue of firing workers as a tool to pressure the government,” Jonan said.