1) Freeport Mining Facility Attacked
2) Freeport Safety Result Likely Next
Week
4) PNG`s defense minister pays courtesy call on Indonesian counterpart
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http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/freeport-mining-facility-attacked/
1) Freeport Mining Facility Attacked
Dozens of people vandalized Freeport facilities and looted ore concentrate at the copper and gold giant’s mining district in Mimika, Papua, on Sunday.
Witnesses said that around 70 people came to the mining area, looting and vandalizing cars and a security post.
Papua Police spokesman Sr. Comr. I Gede Sumerta Jaya confirmed on Monday that the incident had taken place.
“The perpetrators are residents who are non-employees… They came up to the Mile 74 mining area quietly,” he said.
He added that besides vandalizing vehicles, the perpetrators also vandalized buses for employees and caused general alarm. “After entering the site, the group vandalized passing vehicles and also the office and started to shout, scaring the employees and sending them fleeing,” Sumerta said.
Security officers, aided by police and military personnel, were only able to regain control of the site two hours later. Several of the vandals were arrested and taken into the custody of the Tembagapura Police.
“A group of seven people who fled through the Camp Davit river were apprehended and sent back to a village near the mining area,” Sumerta said.
The situation has returned to normal, with a heavy security presence in place.
Freeport sent five buses to the site to evacuate some of the employees. Sumerta said that some of those who had returned to the barracks had refused to return to the worksite.
It is still not clear what losses were incurred from the vandalism and looting. The police also have not named anyone a suspect yet.
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2) Freeport Safety Result Likely Next Week
Freeport staff last month protested following an accident that killed 28 workers in a training facility. (Reuters Photo)
The ministry overseeing the mining industry is set to announce next week its decision on whether Freeport Indonesia can resume operations in Papua after fatal mining accidents in the past five weeks.
“[The decision is] next week,” Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik said on Monday after a meeting with an independent team formed to investigate the incident. “There are several items that still need to be completed.”
Ridho Wattimena, who is leading the probe into the copper and gold mine case, said the investigation “is almost over.”
“There is still the final evaluation from the team,” he said after the meeting.
Ridho added that the team “will return to Freeport Indonesia’s mining site once or twice in the near future.”
“We don’t want the investigation to take a long time to complete.”
After completing the investigation into Freeport’s activities, Ridho said, the team will probe all underground mining operations in Indonesia, including at Pongkor in West Java and Cibaliung in Banten, both operated by state-controlled miner Aneka Tambang.
“The whole investigation will take three months [to complete],” said Ridho, while refusing to disclose the team’s evaluation on the cause of the recent Freeport incidents.
On May 14, a collapse at an underground mining facility used for training exercises killed 28 miners and injured 10.
Two weeks later, in Freeport’s underground deep ore mining zone a truck driver was buried by sludge after an underground tunnel where maintenance was taking place collapsed.
Following the incidents, the government instructed Freeport Indonesia to stop operations at its Grasberg Mining site.
According to a company statement, the stoppage has resulted in a loss of 80 million pounds of copper and 80,000 ounces of gold so far. It will book losses of 3 million pounds of copper and 3,000 ounces of gold a day until operations resume.
“Because of this disruption, PT-FI [Freeport Indonesia] has notified its customers of a force majeure event under its concentrate sales agreement,” the company said last Wednesday.
Force majeure is invoked by commodity suppliers when they cannot meet obligations due to circumstances beyond their control.
The safety incidents have also prompted an indefinite delay to pay negotiations with staff, which were due to start the week of the May 14 fatalities.
— Additional reporting from Bloomberg & Reuters
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Posted at 05:01 on 18 June, 2013 UTC
While the leaders of the Melanesian Spearhead Group prepare for their annual summit in New Caledonia starting on Wednesday, it appears the key issue on the agenda has been pushed aside.
The meeting will be attended by the leaders of Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and the New Caledonia’s pro-independence group, the FLNKS, while Papua New Guinea is sending a cabinet minister in place of Peter O’Neill.
The countries foreign ministers have already met, on Lifou, and as Johnny Blades told Don Wiseman, it looks like bad news for the West Papuans pushing to join the Melanesian club.
JOHNNY BLADES: What’s come out of that is that the MSG is going to probably defer the decision on the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation formal bid for membership in the MSG and they’re going to, in the meantime, try to find out more about the West Papua situation by sending a mission to Jakarta and the Papuan provincial capital Jayapura later this year to, quote, discuss West Papua with the Indonesians. Ratu Inoke Kubuabola of Fiji has more or less conveyed that at the conclusion of the MSG Foreign Ministers Meeting.
DON WISEMAN: It’s the result of an offer made by Indonesia to Frank Bainimarama a couple of weeks ago, I understand. It would seem clearly an effort by Jakarta to undercut the Papuans.
JB: That seems to be part of it. There’s no question Indonesia has been lobbying intensely behind the scenes to counter the West Papuan bid for membership. And, of course, remember that PNG’s prime minister Peter O’Neill is in Indonesia at the moment on a state visit. He’s been having discussions with the Indonesian president and he’s not going to be coming to this MSG Leaders Summit. And I think that’s also part of it - a couple of key players within the MSG are not entirely comfortable with giving the West Papuans membership at this stage it seems. But, of course, it will all come down to the leader’s decision which is due later in the week, of course, after the West Papuans address the plenary session. But I think that the outcome of this foreign minister’s meeting with the announcement of this mission to West Papua is an indication of which way that decision will go.
DW: And the West Papuans, I presume there’s a reasonable contingent of them in Noumea, they’ll be angry.
JB: I think they’ll be really disappointed. They flew in last night and they had really high hopes for this MSG summit, that they’d finally be brought in to the Melanesian club. They’ll be really disappointed. In a way, it’s not all bad because there might be a bit of movement on their cause, but it’s well short of what they were hoping for and I think maybe expecting.
DW: What else can we expect the leaders to be discussing when they come together from tomorrow?
JB: They’re going to talk about trade, labour mobility. That’s definitely a bit of a hot topic at the moment. Particularly PNG and Fiji have been discussing all sorts of skills, movement, arrangements. And I think also they’re going to look at the report on the future direction of the MSG, which is being put together by an Eminent Persons Group, and I think that’s a reflection of the growing cohesion of this sub-regional grouping. They’re also, I believe, going to be looking at the progress of the Noumea Accord and how the FLNKS are getting on with preparing for possible independence
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4) PNG`s defense minister pays courtesy call on Indonesian counterpart
Tue, June 18 2013 12:17 | 80 Views
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Papua New Guinea`s Defense Minister Febian Pok paid a courtesy call on his Indonesian counterpart, Purnomo Yusgiantoro, here on Tuesday.
The two ministers discussed efforts to intensify defense cooperation between Indonesia and PNG, Minister Yusgiantoro said.
"The defense cooperation, which has been implemented so far, includes joint border patrol, military official exchange visits, and training as well as exercises," the minister said.
The two countries explored possibility to establish cooperation in the defense industry, he added.
Indonesia and PNG signed a Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) in Port Moresby, PNG, on March 12, 2010 during a state visit by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Minister Febian Pok is a member of the entourage of PNG`s Prime Minister Peter Charles Paire O`Neill who is on a visit to Indonesia.
Prime Minister O`Neill and President Yudhoyono held a bilateral meeting in Jakarta on Monday (June 17).
President Yudhoyono considered the state visit of the PNG prime minister this time very significant for developing and increasing the cooperation between the two countries following the meetings before in Honolulu and in the Bali Democracy Forum last year.
"This visit is very important not only for the two countries` bilateral relations but also for increasing and strengthening our relations and partnership. We have agreed to work more and seek more opportunities and comprehensive partnership," he said.
Prime Minister O`Neill meanwhile said he was glad over the warn welcome that had been given to him and his delegation.
He said as close neighbors PNG and Indonesia could continue to develop their cooperation wider.
(Uu.S037/F001)
The two ministers discussed efforts to intensify defense cooperation between Indonesia and PNG, Minister Yusgiantoro said.
"The defense cooperation, which has been implemented so far, includes joint border patrol, military official exchange visits, and training as well as exercises," the minister said.
The two countries explored possibility to establish cooperation in the defense industry, he added.
Indonesia and PNG signed a Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) in Port Moresby, PNG, on March 12, 2010 during a state visit by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Minister Febian Pok is a member of the entourage of PNG`s Prime Minister Peter Charles Paire O`Neill who is on a visit to Indonesia.
Prime Minister O`Neill and President Yudhoyono held a bilateral meeting in Jakarta on Monday (June 17).
President Yudhoyono considered the state visit of the PNG prime minister this time very significant for developing and increasing the cooperation between the two countries following the meetings before in Honolulu and in the Bali Democracy Forum last year.
"This visit is very important not only for the two countries` bilateral relations but also for increasing and strengthening our relations and partnership. We have agreed to work more and seek more opportunities and comprehensive partnership," he said.
Prime Minister O`Neill meanwhile said he was glad over the warn welcome that had been given to him and his delegation.
He said as close neighbors PNG and Indonesia could continue to develop their cooperation wider.
(Uu.S037/F001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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