By Deden Sudrajat and I Made Sentana
JAKARTA, Indonesia--Mining activities at Freeport-McMoRan's
(FCX) unit in an eastern Indonesian province haven't been affected
by a recent accident that claimed one life.
"Our (mining) operations are running normally," Ledy Simarmata,
spokeswoman for PT Freeport Indonesia, told The Wall Street Journal
on Monday.
Ms. Simarmata said the incident took place in an underground
mine, which the local unit of the U.S. mining giant is still
developing and hasn't produced ore. She, however, said development
work is suspended as the company, along with a government team,
investigate the incident.
The company said over the weekend that an Indonesian worker was
killed by falling rocks while working at the underground mine
Grasberg Block Cave on Friday. It said another worker involved in
the incident escaped and survived.
PT Freeport Indonesia was forced to halt mining at its massive
Grasberg mine in Papua in May 2013 after 28 workers were killed
when an underground tunnel collapsed. The accident occurred outside
of production areas, but Freeport halted operations at all its area
mines.
The company is developing the underground mine as open-pit
mining will end late 2016. It expects underground mining to yield
about 160,000 metric tons of ore a day.
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