By I Made Sentana and Deden Sudrajat
JAKARTA, Indonesia--The Indonesian unit of Freeport-McMoRan
Copper & Gold Inc. halted activities at the Grasberg mine
Saturday after four workers were killed when car collided with a
mining truck.
"Work safety is the priority of PT Freeport Indonesia, and
because of that activities at the open-pit Grasberg are suspended
for investigation, " the company's spokesperson Daisy Primayanti
said.
Ms. Primayanti couldn't say when the company will resume
operations at the open-pit mine, located in the Papua province on
the island of New Guinea.
Open-pit mining is a surface mining method in which minerals are
extracted from the earth by removing them from an open pit. It
doesn't require tunneling.
The company said a total of nine workers were involved in the
accident; five are being treated at a local hospital.
The massive mining operation has some of the world's largest
copper and gold deposits. It produced 885 million pounds of copper
and 1.1 million ounces of gold last year. Now the owners have their
sights on ore production as well.
This is the second fatal accident this month at the mine. A
boulder fell and killed a worker underground earlier this month.
The company didn't halt operations over that accident.
The company was ordered by the Indonesia government to halt
mining at the Grasberg mine in May of 2013 after 28 workers were
killed when an underground tunnel collapsed. The accident occurred
outside of production areas, but Freeport halted operations at all
of its area mines.
Freeport Indonesia had stopped exports of copper concentrate for
eight months in a dispute over terms with the Indonesian
government. It resumed exports in August after it agreed to pay
export taxes and higher royalties, and reduce the size of the
concession area.
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