4 workers killed in accident at Freeport’s Indonesia mine
New Straits Times Online, 27 September 2014
JAKARTA: Four workers were killed Saturday in an accident at a US-controlled copper and gold mine in Indonesia’s remote Papua province, the company said, the latest safety-related incident at the site.
A light vehicle carrying nine passengers collided with a giant haulage truck at Freeport-McMoRan’s huge Grasberg mine, according to a company statement.
The firm added that it has temporarily suspended open-pit mining activities at Grasberg pending an investigation.
Grasberg, one of the biggest copper and gold mines in the world, has been plagued by accidents and production problems in recent years.
In May last year, a training tunnel collapsed killing 28 miners as they took part in a safety course in one of Indonesia’s worst-ever mining accidents.
Another worker died in December last year when rocks fell from a machine, crushing him.
In 2011 a three-month strike crippled production at the mine, and workers only halted the industrial action once Freeport agreed to a huge pay rise. --AFP
