KPC threatens to declare force majeure
Tuesday, March 27 2001 - 06:30 AM WIB
Coal mining company PT KPC in Sangatta East Kalimantan threatened to declare force majeure on its coal supply to several countries if labor strikes at its mine continue
Company spokesman Bambang Susanto confirmed on Tuesday that the company had recently sent a letter to minister of energy and mineral resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro, in which the company revealed the force majeure option.
He said the labor strike, which started in early February this year had forced the company to cut its coal output by 50 percent as the striking workers held the company's shovels hostage.
"If the labor strike remains unsettled, we will declare a force majeure on our supply this week," Bambang told Petromindo.com.
He said today there were six containers at the company's Tanjung Bara port. Two of the ships would take coal for Japanese market and the remaining four ships would take coal to Europe, China, and Taiwan and to copper and gold mining company PT Freeport Indonesia in Irian Jaya respectively.
KPC is equally owned by Anglo Australia mining giant Rio Tinto and Anglo American energy firm Beyond Petroleum (BP).
According to earlier reports, the strike started in early February when 75 workers of KPC's sub-contractors PT Liber staged protest demanding better pay.
The strike has, however, affected KPC's operations because the workers blocked KPC's spare part warehouses. This made the company unable to use many shovels.
KPC earlier said it planned to produce 15 million tones of coal this year. (godang)