28 confirmed dead in overseas mining tunnel collapse

• 
  

Posted: Wednesday, May 29, 2013 12:00 am

By Jon Johnson jonj@eacourier.com | 0 comments

TIMIKA, Indonesia — The rescue and recovery operation regarding a tunnel collapse at an FMI-subsidiary mine in Indonesia ended Tuesday night, after workers removed the last remaining bodies.
A training tunnel collapsed May 14 at the Big Gossan training facility at the remote Grasberg mine in West Papua province trapping 38 workers who were attending a refresher class. Ten of the workers were rescued and taken to the company’s hospital at Tembagapura. Some of the injured were then flown to a hospital in Jakarta for further treatment. Freeport confirmed the 28 remaining workers were listed as deceased. None of the workers who were in the tunnel were reported to be from the Gila Valley.

The mine is operated through a subsidiary of Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., PT Freeport Indonesia. FMI is the largest publicly traded mining company in the world and operates North America’s largest open pit copper mine at Morenci. The company also operates several other mines in Arizona, including its Safford and Morenci Operations.

Mining at the Indonesia site has been suspended since the day of the collapse, at an estimated cost of about $15 million per day in lost productivity. Freeport CEO Richard Adkerson arrived in Jakarta and said the mining giant would not resume operations until they felt the work environment was safe for their employees.

“We’re not going to let people go back until we’re comfortable they’re safe and that will be done in cooperation with the union and the rest of the workers,” Adkerson said during a news conference at Indonesia’s mining ministry in Jakarta.

Adkerson and PT-FI President Director Rozik Soetjipto visited the accident site and met with injured employees as well as the families and loved ones of the deceased, according to a release from Freeport.

“I am deeply saddened and disturbed by this event,” Adkerson said in the release. “The recovery effort was carried out as quickly as could be done safely. The team conducting the recovery operations has world-class experience and expertise in mining, and I was impressed with their professionalism, dedication and commitment to the recovery of their co-workers . . . The entire Freeport family around the world joins PT-FI in grieving for our lost brothers.”

The incident is being investigated by PT-FI, international experts, the Indonesian Department of Energy and Mineral Resources and other government authorities with Freeport’s full cooperation, according to the release.

Indonesia’s Energy and Mineral Resources Minister, Jero Wacik, said the country has ordered an independent investigation into the accident and will inspect all other underground mining operations in the country as well.

“Any fatality is unacceptable,” Adkerson said. “Given the magnitude of this tragedy, we will not rest until we understand what happened and have taken every necessary step to ensure the safety of our people.”

The Grasberg mine normally produces around 220,000 tons of concentrated copper ore a day with roughly 80,000 tons coming from underground operations. Freeport previously reported its intention to ramp up its underground operations and predicted sales of 1.1 billion pounds of copper and 1.2 million ounces of gold in 2013, according to its 2012 annual report. The increase would be 54 percent and 31 percent, respectively, over the output from 2012 due mostly to mining higher ore grades.

As well as being the second-largest copper mine in the world, the Grasberg minerals district also has the world’s largest gold reserves.

The impact of the closure has been limited so far due mostly to stockpiles of copper kept in reserve in case of a mining disruption. The mine could face a prolonged closure, however, because Freeport reportedly said it will only reopen the mine with the government’s blessing.