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JAKARTA. The mining site of PT Freeport Indonesia remains under blockade for the second day following a fatal incident.
Protesters are demanding that the company’s management take responsibility for a recent collision that killed four people and pay more attention to work safety as accidents continue to occur at the company’s mining site.
“The blockade is not disrupting our investigation, which concluded today [Thursday]. We are waiting for our team’s report and expect to announce the result next Tuesday,” said Bambang Susigit, the technical and environmental director at the energy and mineral resources ministry’s mineral and coal directorate general.
Freeport late last week reported a collision involving an operational vehicle and a large-size haul truck that was en route to the Grasberg open-pit mine. Four people were killed in the incident while five others, including the driver of the operational vehicle, sustained injuries but survived.
The mineral and coal office has asked the company to halt its open mining activities for one week for investigation. The temporary closure is expected to impact Freeport’s performance, as production from open pit mining is the company’s biggest revenue contributor.
The copper miner recently resumed exports last August after months of negotiation with the government, which implemented a ban on mineral ore exports on Jan. 12.
