Freeport Indonesia: Mining Operations Unaffected By Shootings

Operations at Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc.'s (FCX) Grasberg mine in Papua are continuing as normal following deadly attacks on its employees over the weekend, said a senior company official Monday.

Mining operations at the Grasberg mine, one of the world's largest single producers of both copper and gold, have not been stopped "as the attacks took place far from the mine," said Mindo Pangaribuan, a spokesman for PT Freeport Indonesia, the local unit of Freeport-McMoran.

Reports quoting police officials said a 29-year-old Australian mining expert was shot dead Saturday while traveling in car just outside the company's mine.

On Sunday, gunmen opened fire on two Freeport vehicles, killing an Indonesian security guard and injuring five others.

The latest killings mark the most serious attack on Freeport's staff since two U.S. teachers working at the mine were shot and killed while driving on the same road in 2002. An alleged commander of the Free Papua Movement was sentenced to life in prison by an Indonesian court in 2006 in connection with those deaths after a joint investigation by Indonesian police and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Since then, the mine has faced only sporadic violence, including an arson attack on offices and equipment in 2006 by illegal miners that caused $2 million in damages. Last week, a Freeport security post was burnt to the ground in a minor incident.

-By Fawziah Selamat, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]