Freeport agrees to cut production

Freeport agrees to cut production

JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of Environment Sonny Keraf said
on Tuesday that giant gold and copper mining company PT Freeport
Indonesia had agreed to cut its production following an incident
at the Wanagong dumping site.

Sonny said that Freeport was still calculating how much it
would reduce its production from the present level of about
230,000 tons of ore per day.

"But there is no need to suspend operation," he said on the
sidelines of an national conference on the management of natural
resources.

Sonny has suggested earlier to suspend Freeport's operation in
response to the Wanagong lake incident earlier this month.

Mining waste material some 400 meters high at the lake,
collapsed, causing a massive wave that swept away four employees
of Freeports' contractors.

The company admitted that it was the third time the waste pile
had collapsed, though it previously never led to any casualties.

The last incident prompted the government to bar Freeport from
dumping the mining waste material -- called overburden -- into
Wanagong lake until it could improve safety measures at the site.

Sonny said that reducing Freeport's production would not
violate its contract, which allowed the company to produce at a
level of 300,000 tons of ore per day.

He said a geological team would assess whether it would be
possible for the company to continue using the Wanagong lake
without further risking erosion of the overburden.

"If the assessment says that this will be impossible, then
Freeport may no longer dump the overburden into the lake," he
said.

He further urged Freeport to build a giant basin to treat its
tailing in order to avoid environmental damage.

Tailing is mining waste material after it has been processed,
which mining companies dump into rivers and lakes.

Director general of general mining at the Ministry of Mines
and Energy Surna Tjahja Djadjadiningrat said that Freeport did
not object to the government's call to reduce its production
levels.

However, he said, the company had to inform its New Orleans
based parent company Freeport McMoran about the reduction.

"Whether they actually reduce their production level is up to
them," he said.

But Surna said that Freeport dumped most of its overburden
into Wanagong lake.

"So how long can you survive?" he quoted Minister of Mines and
Energy Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono asking Freeport.

The company had earlier said it was using the Qartenz dumping
site to store the overburden while the ban was in effect.

However, Surna assured that Freeport was unable to sustain its
production levels without dumping the overburden into Wanagong
lake. (bkm/08)