By I Made Sentana and Deden Sudrajat 

JAKARTA, Indonesia--The Indonesian unit of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. halted activities at the Grasberg mine Saturday after four workers were killed when car collided with a mining truck.

"Work safety is the priority of PT Freeport Indonesia, and because of that activities at the open-pit Grasberg are suspended for investigation, " the company's spokesperson Daisy Primayanti said.

Ms. Primayanti couldn't say when the company will resume operations at the open-pit mine, located in the Papua province on the island of New Guinea.

Open-pit mining is a surface mining method in which minerals are extracted from the earth by removing them from an open pit. It doesn't require tunneling.

The company said a total of nine workers were involved in the accident; five are being treated at a local hospital.

The massive mining operation has some of the world's largest copper and gold deposits. It produced 885 million pounds of copper and 1.1 million ounces of gold last year. Now the owners have their sights on ore production as well.

This is the second fatal accident this month at the mine. A boulder fell and killed a worker underground earlier this month. The company didn't halt operations over that accident.

The company was ordered by the Indonesia government to halt mining at the Grasberg mine in May of 2013 after 28 workers were killed when an underground tunnel collapsed. The accident occurred outside of production areas, but Freeport halted operations at all of its area mines.

Freeport Indonesia had stopped exports of copper concentrate for eight months in a dispute over terms with the Indonesian government. It resumed exports in August after it agreed to pay export taxes and higher royalties, and reduce the size of the concession area.

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