Freeport Indonesia Looks at Controlled Shutdown of Mine

The company said it had still managed to ship 103,189 tonnes of concentrate in the past week, though with blockades to the port and rising worker tension, it was unclear if further shipments can be made. The Indonesian energy and mining minister said some production had resumed on Tuesday, but the firm could not confirm this.

“We still have concentrate that’s been dried at the port side. The last I heard, there were hopes to continue loading concentrate on ships,” the spokesman said.

“We still have people in Tembagapura, who are going to work.” Tembagapura is where the mine is located.

A second company spokesman said in a statement that the miner is currently producing concentrate at reduced levels, but “will temporarily suspend and/or curtail concentrate production as conditions warrant.”

Blockades

Road blockades, part of the prolonged strike by around 12,000 of the mine’s 23,000 workers, have stopped containers carrying food and medicine from reaching the mine and jet fuel from reaching the nearest airport, the company said on Monday.

A clash earlier last week between striking workers and police near the mine led to the death of two protesters — one of whom was a member of an indigenous tribe — and injured others, as disgruntled and striking Grasberg workers protested after being barred from collecting belongings from barracks.

“The road to the port is blocked and has been blocked since last Monday, which means we can’t get the supplies that we need,” the spokesman said. “We continue to work with the government and the security authorities, to try to provide adequate security.”

An official with the Freeport workers union said on Tuesday it was still blockading roads, but plan to stop once a permanent agreement has been reached with the company. The official added that Freeport had not approached the union for more negotiations, while there had been no further security incidents on Tuesday.

“Community activities are running normally, except logistic distribution for the company as roads are being blocked,” said Juli Parorrongan, a Freeport union spokesman.

“We haven’t received information on who did the (pipe) cutting,” she added. “But I was informed that there was a landslide at mile 70 and the pipe could be broken because of it. I assure you, it was not the workers.”