Rescue efforts on at Freeport's Indonesia mine, operations halted

Mining News  |  2013-05-16 01:13:57   |   By

The rescue operations are reported to be at full swing in the Freeport's Grasberg mine in the eastern Papua province, Indonesia

JAKARTA (Scrap Monster) : The rescue operations are reported to be at full swing in the Freeport’s Grasberg mine in the eastern Papua province, Indonesia where a tunnel collapse trapped workers who were undergoing safety training.

Thirty nine workers were attending the training program when the tunnel caved in. Around 14 were evacuated, out of them 4 are reported dead. The Freeport officials stated that the collapse has not hampered the open mining pit, but the company has decided to temporarily halt all operations at the mine in tribute to victims of the mishap.

The cause of the incident is still unknown and the rescue operations are taxing. The top delegation of company officials are planning a site visit at the earliest to analyze the situation so as to decide on when the mining operations can resume.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., (FMCG)  is one of the world's largest producers of copper and gold. Its headquarters are located in the Freeport-McMoRan Center in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. Freeport is the largest publicly traded copper and molybdenum producer in the world. It mines and mills ores containing copper, gold, molybdenum and silver.

The Grasberg Mine is the largest gold mine and the third largest copper mine in the world. It is located in the province of Papua in Indonesia near Puncak Jaya, the highest mountain in Papua. It employs nearly 24,000 contract and non-contract staff.