Freeport production drops 90% as strike continues: Union

Production of copper and gold mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia dropped by almost 90 percent as thousands of workers continued their strike in the company?s mining site in Timika on Tuesday, Papua.

Virgo Solossa, a representative of the workers said that the workers? strike affected almost all of the company?s production activities. ?Perhaps only 10 percent of the production activities are still active normally,? he said.

About 8,000 workers at Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc's Indonesian unit began a seven-day strike on Monday after negotiations between the company?s management and the workers? representatives failed.

The company instead dismissed six of the workers? representatives during the negotiations, triggering the protests from other workers from all parts of production units. In the strike, the workers urged the company to cancel the dismissal of the six workers and demanded a pay rise from US$1.50 per hour to $3 per hour.

The workers said that they were paid very low compared with their counterparts working in Freeport?s other mining operations overseas, Solossa said. The company paid on average $15 per hour for its mining workers outside Indonesia, he added.

Freeport Indonesia spokesman Ramdhani Sirait admitted that the strike was disrupting production activities, but added other operational activities, including concentrate shipment activity, were running as normal.

During first quarter of 2011, copper production from Freeport Indonesia rose to 284 million pounds, from 279 million a year earlier, and gold output increased to 441,000 ounces from 429,000 ounces.

Freeport expects 2011 sales to approximate 1.1 billion pounds of copper and 1.5 million ounces of gold. (*)