ByReuterson 01:30 pm Oct 02, 2014
Jakarta. Protesters blocked Freeport-McMoRan’s Indonesian copper mine for a second day on Thursday, stopping people getting to work, as talks continued between management and employees over the number of fatal accidents at the site.
Open-pit mining at the Grasberg mine in Indonesia’s Papua province remained suspended, Freeport Indonesia CEO Rozik Soetjipto told Reuters, after four workers were killed in a collision involving a truck on Saturday.
Indonesia’s mining ministry has started an investigation into the accident at one of the world’s biggest copper mines, which is expected to close open-pit mining for around a week.
Asked if the blockade was continuing, Soetjipto said by text: “Still partly … Not sure about the number, but I guess less than 100.”
He said management was meeting employees to find out what their demands were. At least one workers’ union is not backing the blockade and protest.
Only open-pit mining, which accounts for more than half of total output, was closed at the Grasberg site, said Soetjipto, who was unable to give details about the impact on exports or production.
Freeport only resumed copper exports in early August after a seven-month tax dispute with the government halted shipments.
In mid-August, the company said it had built up a 140,000-metric-ton stockpile and expected total copper concentrate production of 1.8 million tons this year, down from an earlier forecast of 2.2 million, with exports of about 700,000 tons.
Thirty-five people died at the remote Papua complex last year, according to Freeport’s 2013 annual report, including 28 who died when a tunnel collapsed.
Virgo Solossa, a Papua-based Freeport union official, said there was no justification for workers maintaining the protest since the government was now investigating.
One union source said there were up to 500 protesters at the site but Solossa put the number at about 150. “People are unable to go to the mines to work because of the blockade on the road,” Solossa said.
The Arizona-based company employs about 24,000 workers, including contractors and staff, in Indonesia.
On Wednesday, protesters displayed banners with the names of victims of previous accidents. They demanded that management improve safety at the mine and that government carry out a more transparent investigation into Saturday’s accident.
Reuters