Freeport Indonesia: Mining Operations Unaffected By Shootings
July 13 2009 - 1:47AM
Dow Jones News
Operations at Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc.'s (FCX)
Grasberg mine in Papua are continuing as normal following deadly
attacks on its employees over the weekend, said a senior company
official Monday.
Mining operations at the Grasberg mine, one of the world's
largest single producers of both copper and gold, have not been
stopped "as the attacks took place far from the mine," said Mindo
Pangaribuan, a spokesman for PT Freeport Indonesia, the local unit
of Freeport-McMoran.
Reports quoting police officials said a 29-year-old Australian
mining expert was shot dead Saturday while traveling in car just
outside the company's mine.
On Sunday, gunmen opened fire on two Freeport vehicles, killing
an Indonesian security guard and injuring five others.
The latest killings mark the most serious attack on Freeport's
staff since two U.S. teachers working at the mine were shot and
killed while driving on the same road in 2002. An alleged commander
of the Free Papua Movement was sentenced to life in prison by an
Indonesian court in 2006 in connection with those deaths after a
joint investigation by Indonesian police and the U.S. Federal
Bureau of Investigation.
Since then, the mine has faced only sporadic violence, including
an arson attack on offices and equipment in 2006 by illegal miners
that caused $2 million in damages. Last week, a Freeport security
post was burnt to the ground in a minor incident.
-By Fawziah Selamat, Dow Jones Newswires; +62 21 3983 1277;
fawziah.selamat@dowjones.com