Rio Tinto Australian workers stay despite warnings to leave Indonesia

Australian mining giant Rio Tinto Plc. said thus far it had no plan to evacuate its expatriate workers in its Indonesian mining units despite Australian Government?s warning Australians to exit Indonesia on another possible attack on Australian interests in Indonesia following fatal Bali bomb blast.

?Thus far, we have no plan to evacuate expatriate workers, especially Australians, but we do advice them to cancel unnecessary traveling,? Nunik Maulana, Rio Tinto spokesperson said on Friday.

Rio Tinto Indonesian has office in Jakarta and operates coal mining firm Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC), and gold mining firm Kelian Equatorial Mining (KEM); both are located in East Kalimantan.

Nunik said KPC employed 23 expat workers, 21 of whom are Australian. KEM employs 24 Australian workers while Rio Tinto Indonesia has two. (godang)