KPC resumes coal production after workers end strike
KPC resumes coal production after workers end strike
JAKARTA (Dow Jones): PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) has resumed coal shipments after striking workers agreed to lift a siege that had disrupted operations at the foreign-owned mine in East Kalimantan since June 20, President Director Grant Thorne said here on Monday.
The miner has lifted a force majeure declared last week to international buyers, although the strikers continue to press their demands, he added.
Kaltim Prima refused their claim for higher pay and other benefits after an independent tribunal rejected the workers' demands.
"The blockade was lifted Saturday, allowing operations to resume," Thorne said.
Thorne said Kaltim Prima plans to hold discussions with around 250 striking workers on Tuesday to resolve the dispute at the mine in Sangatta, East Kalimantan.
The striking workers had blocked the road to the company's coal-processing plant and gasoline-filling station and also threatened violence against other employees, company officials say.
Vessels began loading Sunday after the blockade was lifted, prompting Kaltim Prima to lift the force majeure on coal that had been in place since July 4.
Kaltim Prima is jointly owned by the Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto PLC and BP Amoco PLC.
Kaltim Prima is Indonesia's largest coal producer with an annual output above 15 million metric tons of coal. It ships around 50,000 tons of coal daily to mostly East Asian buyers led by Japan. Europe and the U.S. account for a combined 21% of sales.
The siege and subsequent suspension of shipments has reinforced concerns among foreign resource companies over the breakdown of law and order in Indonesia, in particular in outlying islands where the bulk of the country's resource industries are located.
Mining companies in Indonesia are facing a mounting wave of worker unrest over claims of unfair past treatment, particularly over land compensation.
In the past, Indonesian authorities relied on military and police units to quell worker protests, but analysts say security forces increasingly are reluctant to become embroiled in violent disputes, in part because of greater scrutiny of their actions by emboldened human-rights activists.
The central government's loosening grip, as Indonesia prepares to implement far-reaching new laws on regional autonomy from 2001, is also blamed for a rash of mine disputes in recent months.
A separate siege by local activists at a gold mine in East Kalimantan operated by a Rio Tinto unit halted operations in April. Although the siege has since ended, the company has yet to reach agreement on land rights claims with protesters.