Adaro?s production back to normal after villagers stopped blockade

South Kalimantan-based coal mining giant PT. Adaro Indonesia said Thursday production activities were back to normal after villagers that blockaded road to its crushing plant and coal port dispersed on Thursday.

?A group of villagers demanding to be employed blockaded the road to crushing plant and coal port since last Thursday, causing production loss of 420,000 tons,? said administration manager Priyadi (one name) in a phone interview. He said production was halted since coal could not be transported to crushing plant.

Adaro produces some 70,000 of coal per day.

Priyadi, however, said shipment was unaffected by the blockade since it still had enough stockpile in the coal port during the blockade.

?The stockpile is now gone, but today we could start refilling as production activities have gone back to normal,? said Priyadi.

He said the villagers agreed to stop the blockade, after Adaro, assisted by local government and police held negotiation with villagers. The result of negotiation was not immediately known.

Adaro is Indonesian largest coal producer with production target of around 21 million tons this year.

In October last year, Adaro?s production was` also hit by striking workers of its main contractor PT. Pama Persada Nusantara, which forced the company to declare force majeur to its buyers. (godang/alex)