Peru’s small miners block highways, camp outside Congress demanding registry extension
Analyst says that there are strong competing interests between Congress and small-scale miners that could escalate.
Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold reported on Wednesday that the strike at its Grasberg operations in Papua, Indonesia, which began Sept. 15, is costing the company about 3 million pounds of copper and 5 thousand ounces of gold for each day of the work stoppage.
The company says that it is negotiating a two-year extension of its bi-annual collective labour agreement, which is scheduled for renewal on September 30, 2011.
On September 15, 2011, PT-FI’s union workforce, which includes approximately 8,000 hourly employees, commenced a 30-day strike. The company says there is no legal basis for the strike under Indonesian law.
Mining, milling and concentrate shipping activities are limited by the strike. About 50% of the workforce, primarily contractors and non-union staff employees, have reported to work to maintain critical operations so that full operations can resume quickly upon conclusion of the strike.
Image shows Grasberg operations from space
Comments
Yrte
This strike is very suspicious.