SEEKING GOVERNMENT'S INTERVENTION IN FREEPORT'S LABOR PROBLEM by Fardah

Jakarta, June 14, 2017 (Antara) - Over the past several years, labor strikes have hit PT Freeport Indonesia (FI), but the subsidiary of the US mining giant Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold has managed to find win-win solutions to the problems.

        Having operated the Grasberg mine in Papua, Indonesia¿s ''easternmost province since 1967, PT Freeport Indonesia is into the business of exploration, mining, processing, and worldwide marketing of minerals such as copper, gold, and silver.

        PT FI, one of the three biggest gold and copper mines on the planet, has provided jobs to local people and supported developmental programs in Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua.

       However, since May 1 this year, thousands of PT Freeport workers have been on strike following a dispute between the management and its labor union. 
   The workers of Freeport's contractors have also joined the strike. The labor union has even proposed to extend the strike until June 30, 2017.

        The dispute began when the government banned the company from exporting copper concentrate as it failed to build a smelter for its minerals. The company was forced to lay off many workers for efficiency as it had to stop production.

        As a consequence, PT Freeport and its sub-contract companies fired more than 2.5 thousand workers.

       The layoff caused major concern for the authorities and the affected workers as well as their families, in particular.

INDONESIA STILL STUDYING DIVESTMENT SHARE PRICE OFFERED BY FREEPORT by Fardah

Jakarta, Jan 23, 2016 (Antara) -  PT Freeport Indonesia (FI), one of the world's largest copper and gold mines, has set the price for 10.64 percent stake it is to divest this year at US$1.7 billion (Rp23 trillion).          It has been considered overpriced by some Indonesian officials and experts.        The mining company is required to divest its 30 percent share by 2019 under the Indonesian Government Regulation No. 77 of 2014 on the Implementation of Mineral and Coal Enterprises.          In 2016, the subsidiary of the U.S. mining giant Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold has to release 20 percent of its shares, and another 10 percent in 2019.          As the government has already obtained 9.36 percent shares, this year the divestment will be 10.64 percent.          State Enterprises (BUMN) Minister Rini Soemarno is one of those who commented that the price was too high especially as the prices of the commodities produced by the U.S. company are on the decline.        The price offered by Freeport did not reflect the real condition of the market of commodities produced by the U.S. company, Rini said.

FUTURE OF FREEPORT INDONESIA'S CONTRACT IN LIMBO by Fardah

Jakarta, Dec 9, 2015 (Antara) - PT Freeport Indonesia (FI), one of the three biggest gold and copper mines on the planet, is seemingly eager to have its work contract, set to expire in 2021, extended early.        Indonesia's existing law, however, says that a contract can be extended only two years before its expiry date. So, in this case, it can be extended only in 2019.           PT Freeport Indonesia is into the business of exploration, mining, processing and marketing of minerals, such as copper, gold, and silver worldwide. It has been operating the Grasberg mine in Papua, Indonesia's eastern most province, since 1967.         A subsidiary of the US Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc, this company was founded in 1972 and is based in Jakarta.          Freeport McMoRan's copper-concentrate exports from Indonesia are expected to reach 756,300 tons with an estimated value of $1.56 billion by the end of the year.         According to its vice president of corporation communication, Riza Pratama,  the company paid  a total of US$15.8 billion or Rp 204.23 trillion at the current exchange rate to the Indonesian government between 1992 and 2014, Tempo online reported in October 2015.

FREEPORT CASE SHAKES INDONESIAN POLITICS by Fardah

 Jakarta, Dec 4, 2015 (Antara) - The ongoing case concerning the audio recording of House Speaker Setya Novanto allegedly demanding shares in PT Freeport Indonesia (FI) has shaken Indonesian politics.

    Novanto reportedly mentioned the names of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and Vice President M Jusuf Kalla as would-be recipients of the company's stake, in his talks with PT FI President Director Maroef Sjamsoeddin.

    In the recording, which was secretly taped by Maroef Sjamsoeddin when he met Novanto and oil businessman M Riza Chalid in July 2015, the House speaker allegedly asked for some 20 percent shares of PT Freeport Indonesia in exchange for supporting the company seeking an early renewal of its contract.

   The US gold and copper mining giant, Freeport of Indonesia unit is now at the center of a controversy with Novanto facing questions by the Parliament's Ethics Tribunal (MKD), and possibly by the Attorney General's Office (AGO), too.

   President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and Vice President M Jusuf Kalla completely denied that they had ever asked for shares or discussed the matter with Novanto.

LABOR PROBLEMS CONTINUE AT FREEPORT DESPITE END OF STRIKE by Fardah

     Jakarta, March 3, 2012 (ANTARA) - The end of a three-month workers`strike at PT Freeport Indonesia in December 2011 apparently does not mean that the company`s operations would resume normally or
peacefully.
     In October 2011, a number of employees of the US gold and copper mining company operating in Tembagapura, Mimika, Papua Province, began a strike to demand a salary hike.

FREEPORT STRIKE DRAGS ON by Fardah

        Jakarta, Oct 19, 2011 (ANTARA) - A strike by a number of PT Freeport Indonesia workers in Timika, Papua, has been going for more than one month without signs that a peaceful solution to their dispute with the company`s management can be found soon while the situation in Freeport`s concession area is getting more complicated.
      A clash between gun-toting police and rock-throwing strikers in Timika, on October 10, 2011, killed one demonstrator and one police officer, as well as injured several people.

PT FREEPORT WORKERS ON MONTH-LONG STRIKE OVER WAGE RISE by Fardah

      Jakarta, Sept 17, 2011 (ANTARA) - Thousands of PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) workers left the mining site of Tembagapura for Timika, Mimika District, Papua Province, Thursday (Sept. 15), to begin a one-month strike to demand a salary rise.
      Freeport`s underground mining operations have been totally halted since Wednesday (Sept. 14) at 10.30 pm local time, Oktavianus Hisage, one of the US copper and gold mining company`s workers, said in Timika on Thursday.

Shootings Target PT Freeport in Papua by Fardah

    Jakarta, July 21, 2009 (ANTARA) - Two executives of PT Freeport, Dave Potter and Adrianto Machribi, were injured in the bomb blast last Friday (July 17, 2009) at JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta - very far away from Papua where shooting and torching incidents recently happened in the US gold and copper mining company's concession area.

         The bomb blast in Jakarta, and the shootings in Papua, Indonesia's eastern-most province, might have no linkage at all, but executives and employees of the Indonesian subsidiary of the US-based mining firm have become victims in the two separate incidents.