Freeport mining operations not yet normal
Tuesday, November 4 2003 - 02:33 AM WIB
This information was disclosed by director general of geology and mineral resources at the ministry of energy and natural resources Wimpy S Tjetjep in Jakarta on Monday.
The fatal landslide, which occurred on October 9, killed four employees. Four others are still missing but they are presumed dead.
Wimpy said the government has already asked Freeport to provide safety measure to its workers. However, it doesn’t mean that the government has already finished its investigation regarding the accident.
The government has already dispatched an investigation team to Papua to probe the causes of the accident.
“Until this day, the government still regard the accident at Freeport mine as force majeure because of the natural calamity. But they (Freeport) must give a guarantee that kind of accident will not occur again, Wimpy said.
But Freeport said last week it didn't foresee the need to declare a force majeure despite the partial closure of world's largest copper and gold mine Grasberg
Freeport’s senior manager corporate communications Siddharta Moersjid said his company will give priority to finding missing persons.
It is still uncertain as to when the company can resume full production at Grasberg.
"The resumption will depend on the recovery and cleanup activity, and our top priority is to search for the remaining victims," a Freeport’s spokesman said in Singapore last week.
Grasberg produced 1.13 million tons of copper concentrate and around 2.2 million ounces of gold in the first nine months of 2003.
U.S.-based Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc, PT Freeport's parent company, said it expects to lose around 10% of its projected 2003 sales volume of 1.4 billion pounds of copper and 2.6 million ounces of gold due to the partial closure.
Daily copper-ore production has been slashed to 160,000-180,000 metric tons from 250,000 metric tons. (*)