Freeport to cut production by 13 percent
By: R. Amoros
Thursday, May 25 2000 - 02:15 AM WIB
The giant gold and copper mining in Papua province PT Freeport Indonesia has agreed to cut its output by around 13 percent to 200,000 tons of ore per day from the current level of 230,000 tons, according to Minister of Mines and Energy Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
"Freeport has committed to reduce its output. The amount is not confirmed yet, but is likely to be around 30,000 tons of ore a day," Bambang said on Wednesday.
He said that Freeport would take the output reduction measure immediately.
He said that the decision was made following a three-party meeting with the Ministry of Environment, Freeport, and his office.
Freeport, which is 81.28 percent owned by U.S. mining company Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold, has been ordered to reduce output following a fatal landslide incident at its overburden waste dumping site in Wanagon Lake earlier this month.
The government has temporarily banned the dumping of the company's waste into the Wanagon Lake dumping site until the company could greatly improve safety measures.
The banning indirectly means a reduction of the company's production because it could not locate a new waste-dumping site with the same capacity as the Wanagon Lake dumping site. (*)