Vedanta to exclude base metals business from sweeping demerger
The group said it will consider the base metals business demerger at a later stage.
Thousands of workers at Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc’s (NYSE:FCX) Indonesia unit stopped working on Thursday following an unsettled ongoing dispute with the organization, reports Reuters.
This strike comes shortly after miners at Freeport Indonesia’s Grasberg, the world’s largest gold mine and second biggest copper mine, returned to work in January, ending a three-month strike.
Azomining.com reports that this is not the only problem Freeport is facing in Indonesia. The government is renegotiating contracts with the multi-national these days and there are “increasing demands to up the royalties that are earned from the mining company.”
Freeport has even more than the renegotiation to worry about, says Azomining.com, as the miner’s main pipe carrying copper from the Grasberg mine to a port has been cut.
“The repairs on the pipeline are going to lead to a significant reduction in company production. The exact impact is yet to be calculated by the company but it is yet to declare a Force Majeure.”
The Grasberg’s incident, which cost Freeport-McMoran 3 million pounds of copper and 5 thousand ounces of gold a day, officially ended on Dec 14 when workers reached a deal for a pay increase. Employees have been gradually returning to work and the full workforce is not back yet.
