[Kabar-Irian] News: April 18-24 2007

[Admin-Editors Kabar-Irian]

KABAR IRIAN NEWS

March Apr 18-24

TOPICS

* No ties with the Indonesian military.
* West Papuan workers walk off at Freeport mine
* Papua reconciliatory summit to resume




* Deforestation reduction could be the key for poor Papuans
* Freeport reaches agreement with Indonesian miners
* Strike ends at Freeport's Grasberg mine
* Freeport Timika mine capacity slashed by protest
*  Freeport denies to have damaged sago trees in Timika
* Tribal war continues in Nabire, Papua
* Freeport miners head back to work
* Papuans at Indonesia’s main mine win concessions
* Copper price could fall after miners win 100% pay rise
* Berlian plans fleet expansion
* Earnings Preview: Freeport-McMoRan
* ICCA still has contract labor concerns at Grasberg

---

Australia West Papua Association (Sydney)
Press release 19 April 2007

No ties with the Indonesian military.


Joe Collins from the  Australia West Papua Association said there should
be no ties with the Indonesian military until it can be proven  that the
TNI has been reformed.

The Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) Commander Marshal Djoko Suyanto  is on
a visit to Canberra to strengthen military relations between the two
nations.

Yet starting last December the TNI have being conducting a military
operation in the Highlands of West Papua. This operation caused thousands
of local people to flee to

the bush where many faced starvation because they were afraid to return to
their villages to work in their food gardens.

Also, numerous reports have shown that the Indonesian military are
involved in illegal resource extraction in West Papua including illegal
logging. It must be remembered

that the TNI receive less than 50% of its budget from the government and
must raise the rest themselves. AWPA  said that it should be realized that
any such  institution

would be open to corruption”.  Joe Collins said  that“ while such
entrenched practices continue, it is highly unlikely that the
professionalism of the Australian military will

have any influence on the TNI”,

Many of the submissions into the recently signed Lombok treaty (yet to be
ratified by parliament) also raised concerns about the Indonesian
military. AWPA believes that

any training or aid given to the Indonesian military could be used to
oppress the West Papuan people.

Info. Joe Collins Mob. 04077 857 97.

---

edia alert

West Papuan workers walk off at Freeport mine

18 April 2007

West Papuan workers at the Freeport gold and copper mine in the mountains
of West Papua have walk off the job on Tuesday 17 April 2007.

Workers are demanding a better deal for Papuans workers and the
traditional landowners at the mine.

Freeport is said to have 9,000 employees directly under its management in
Indonesia, a third of these are Papuans.

Sources in Timika said that there was 3-4,000 employees of the Freeport
project were demonstrating there today.

Representatives of Tongoi Papua, an organisation established to negotiate
between Papuans and the company,  said they  would be meeting with the
Freeport's President

for Indonesia tomorrow to further discuss the workers demands.

It is reported in the international media that workers are seeking to meet
with Freeport Chief executives based in New Orleans.

Workers are demanding increases in the wages of mine workers and to ensure
that Papuan people derive a greater share of the benefits from the mine. 
They argue that

Papuan are being sidelined and are not given enough opportunities within
the mining project.

Pictures of the demonstration are available.

For more information contact Penina Karma, General Secretary  of West
Papuan Workers Union/Association at Freeport.  Her number is +62 812
4059939.  or else

contact Betty Ibo +62 81344025951

Background on Human Rights & environmental impact
The shareholders of Freeport, which include the UK based miner Rio Tinto,
have experienced enormous profits from the mine in the last few years with
boom in gold and

copper prices.   The project is said to be the second largest copper
producer in the world and is knows as the largest gold deposit.  It is the
cheapest and therefore most

profitable gold and copper producer in the world.  The project is
Indonesia’s single largest tax payer and has major contributer of mining
royalties.

Matthew Jamieson from the Institute for papuan Advocacy & Human Rights
said today, "There is very high sovereign risk to the project both from
increasing expression of

West Papuan self determination and general instable Indonesian political
and regulatory climate.  As a consequence of this risk to their investment
and income stream the

mining company uses a practice of ‘high grading’ to extract as much of the
mines riches in the shortest possible time."

"As a consequence of this the overburden from the project which has
elevated copper levels, which enters the river system.  The project has
the very environmentally

impactive form of wasted deposal called 'riverine tailings disposal'. 
(Landowners down stream of the Ok Tedi project in Papua New Guinea were
able to successfully sue

the Australian miner BHP over similar issues.)  This pollution from the
Freeport which includes the physical inundation by overburden and mine
tailings has decimated the

lowland rainforests.  Further downstream runoff impacts the extensive
estuary systems and the Arafura Sea."

Matthew Jamieson also said "The mine has a very poor human rights record. 
Ongoing abuses have occurred at the site since the mine inception in 1972.
 In 1995

Indonesian military used mine facilities to torture and kill members of
the Amungme landowner group."

"Opposition to and resentment of the mine is strong amoungst the local
community.   There is ongoing incidents, strife and killings of local
people and mine staff in the mine

area."

"Many point to the Indonesian military as the principle source of this
strife, as it appears to suit the military's interests to have an ongoing
conflict situation in at Freeport

and in West Papua generally.  The Indonesian military has been paid
millions by the Freeport and are hired as mine security."

Matthew Jamieson also said " Last year landowners held a demonstration on
the road to the mine seeking the closure of the project.  A related
demonstration in Jayapura,

West Papua administrative capital, left a number of Indonesian security
forces dead.  This resulted in a major security crackdown on West Papua
students.  Students are

on the run from authorities and still hiding in the jungle one year later
as a result of these demonstrations.  Other students have been detained,
tortured, beaten and unjustly

tried within Indonesian legal system."

"Also last year Antonius Wamang & 6 other Papuan men were convicted in
relation to the ambush & killing of US school teachers close to the mine
in 2002.  Initial reports

suggested that Wamang had worked with the Indonesian military in the
attack but this evidence dropped from the prosecution of the case."

 "A ballistics report from the time which has been recently become
available  points to a total of 13 guns were used in the attack,  instead
of the 3 presented in the evidence

used in prosecuting  the 7 Papuans.  This information strongly points to
military participation in the shooting."

"The Freeport mine has a very checked history and very poor history of
Human Rights and environmental abuse.  Freeport is a mainstay of the
Indonesian economy and in

West Papua it has come to symbolise the nature of Indonesian occupation of
West Papua."

For further information on Human rights and environmental issues contact
Paula Makabory in Australia on +61 402547517 or Matthew Jamieson +61
418291998.


Matthew Jamieson
Institute for Papuan Advocacy & Human Rights
PO box 1805, Byron bay NSW 2481 Australia
matthew at hr.minihub.org
tel +61(0) 418291998

----

(Supplied by Unknown)

Papua reconciliatory summit to resume




The second meeting between Papua and West Irian Jaya governors is to start
Wednesday, with both parties expressing optimism they could end their
protracted conflict.

Host Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu held a party Tuesday night for West
Irian Jaya Governor Abraham Atururi and his entourage.



Suebu said the summit in Biak would

underline both parties’ commitment to upholding the 2001 law on special
autonomy for Papua.



“We share the same culture, economy and infrastructure. We are divided

only by administration,” Suebu said.



A joint meeting of regents, mayors and officials of the two provinces will
precede the summit.



(Cenderawasih Pos April 18, 2007)

---

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20070423.E03&irec=2


Deforestation reduction could be the key for poor Papuans

Shailendra Yashwant, Bangkok

Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu recently announced that he was considering
committing to reducing the forest area designated for conversion in Papua
from 9.2 to 4.2

million hectares.

This proposal is generally recognized as "avoided deforestation", first
mooted by the Coalition of Rainforest Nations in 2006. Halting or limiting
deforestation prevents

greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere, in the same way that energy
efficiency and renewable energy avoid emissions from fossil fuel
combustion; the gases

never enter the atmosphere and therefore do not cause any damage.

Besides the Coalition of Rainforest Nations, which includes Papua New
Guinea and Costa Rica, the Amazonas region in South America, and now the
autonomous region of

Papua (including West Irian Jaya) and Aceh in Indonesia are leading the
demand for the inclusion of avoided deforestation in the climate change
convention and Kyoto

protocol.

Two main types of policy approach have been proposed on how to convert
emissions reduction by avoided deforestation.

First, if the country commits to restricting deforestation and keeps
within the limit, the emissions avoided would be tradeable in the Kyoto
system, together with allowances

generated from emissions reductions from developed countries.

The second approach involves a commitment to limiting deforestation but
credit would be provided from a fund and there would be no direct links to
any trading system. In

both cases the commitment would be voluntary but legally binding once made.

The argument is that rich and developed countries have an obligation to
protect tropical rain forests and should provide financing to allow the
recipient countries or

provinces to provide alternative income and livelihood opportunities for
the forest communities that will have to sacrifice their income that until
now has come from timber

extraction and the clearing of the forest for agriculture,

Now let us focus on how Papua's governor will ensure a number of baseline
requirements to gain from "carbon markets" or "carbon funds". The most
crucial one is getting

a buy-in from the local population, forest people or longstanding forest
owners, so that they get sufficient income and are not tempted to sell
their land to loggers.

It is an accepted fact that most forest communities are loathe to fell
their forests but are forced to do so in order to provide themselves and
their families with a better

standard of living.

Let us assume that Governor Seubu is able to convince his forest
communities. He then has to deal with a number of issues for the
international community to accept that

his intentions are above board and that he will be able to demonstrate
effective implementation of his plans.

The Climate Action Network, a broad coalition of more than 360 environment
and development non-governmental organizations in 85 countries committed
to limiting human-

induced climate change to ecologically sustainable levels have proposed
the following five principles:

First, environmental effectiveness: every effort must be made to ensure
that the emission reductions achieved by reducing deforestation are real,
and that concerns over

permanence and leakage are effectively addressed.

Second, deeper industrial emission reduction: the deforestation scheme
must not allow industrialized countries to avoid deepening their current
emission reductions and

limitation commitments to levels consistent with avoiding climate change.

Third, environmental and social integrity: measures should be taken to
ensure that policies and incentives to reduce deforestation under the
United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change are consistent with other international
conventions (including the convention on biological diversity), supportive
of millennium development

goals and consistent with national sustainable development objectives.

Fourth, full international participation: institutional, technical and
financial requirements of the scheme must be appropriate to the existing
capacity of tropical developing

countries and Annex B parties must provide adequate support to facilitate
participation.

Fifth, long term action: the scheme must provide practicable and reliable
incentives to reduce deforestation in the long term.

Further, the Papuan Governor will have to address issues including
ensuring clear governance arrangements to ensure that national commitments
can be met. He needs to

ensure that the effective land tenure system recognizes and enforces the
rights of local and indigenous communities and rural poor. He must put in
place human and

technical capacities to implement, monitor and evaluate efforts to reduce
deforestation. And above all, he will have to make sure that he allows
networks to share information

with an effective civil society participation to help his administration
implement activities in the field.

According to one estimate, if the Papuan government agreed to reduce its
plans for forest conversion by one million hectares, and could show that
it reduced its rate of

deforestation by 50,000 ha a year, it could receive perhaps $50 million to
$100 million a year for 200 years to help it, together with local
communities, manage and

conserve that million ha of forests.

An initial commitment to avoid the deforestation of one million hectares
could be increased progressively to several million hectares if the scheme
was shown to work. Initial

funding, based on $10 per ton of carbon stored in the forests could well
increase as carbon's traded value increases.

Looking at the institutional capacity of the Papuan provincial government
to administer large amounts of carbon, we need to assess how and through
what means carbon

fund benefits can be delivered to forest-holding communities.

We know very well how destructive an influx of funds can be to
subsistence-based communities -- the jealousy, conflict and social impact
and disruption this causes. So it

is both looking at what capacity building is required for the communities
to be prepared and are able to manage, and what delivery mechanisms should
be used (e.g. no

cash payments, only services provided such as health, education,
communications, or financial support for village initiatives and
enterprises).

In conclusion, the bottom line for Barnabas Seubu's proposal to succeed is
that the key issues identified above are addressed and most importantly he
is able to somehow

avoid the big "C" i.e. the curse of corruption, so that the proposed
projects are transparent and the benefits are passed on to the poor forest
dwellers.

After all, the primary intention for Seubu is to alleviate the poverty of
the 250,000 families in his constituency as much as arresting the runaway
phenomenon of global

warming. If he succeeds, and there are positive discussions on the
inclusion of avoided deforestation in the Kyoto mechanism in the second
commitment period, then he

will have achieved lot more than that other famous green governor, Arnold
Schwarzenegger of California.

The writer is climate and energy campaigner with Greenpeace and can be
reached at shaiyashwant at gmail.com. The views expressed in this article are
author's personal

outlook and do not reflect current policies of Greenpeace.

---

http://www.antara.co.id/en/arc/2007/4/22/freeport-reaches-agreement-with-indonesian-miners/

Economic & Business

04/22/07 13:50
Freeport reaches agreement with Indonesian miners

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - housands of mine workers in Indonesia's emote
Papua province on Sunday returned to work after a subsidiary of US firm
reeport McMoRan

agreed to salary and benefit demands, a labour activist said.

"We finally reached an agreement last night at around 11:00 pm (1500 GMT)
nd today all workers who are on shift have returned to work," said Penina
arma, the secretary

general of Tongi Papua, a non-governmental organisation nvolved in the
three-day protest and the negotiations.

More than 2,000 workers from the giant gold and copper Grasberg mine
tarted protesting peacefully Tuesday at the headquarters of PT Freeport
ndonesia, which operates

the mine, just outside the town of Timika.

The protracted dispute centres on demands for higher wages, improved
elfare, and better access to higher-level jobs for Papuan workers.

The rally helped push world copper prices to 8,000 dollars a tonne amid
oncerns disruptions could lead to a drop in stockpiles of the metal.

Karma said that the agreement had been reached with the executives of
reeport Indonesia and there was no reason to take the dispute further.

The protestors had initially demanded a teleconference with Freeport
cMoRan executives in the United States.

Mine workers had demanded a minimum monthly wage of at least 3.2 million
upiah (352 dollars). The negotiations finally settled on a range of 3.1 to
3.6 illion rupiah, Karma

told AFP. (*)

Copyright © 2007 ANTARA

---

http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20070422.A01

Strike ends at Freeport's Grasberg mine

National News - April 22, 2007

Markus Makur, The Jakarta Post, Timika

A workers' strike at Freeport-McMoRan's Grasberg mine in Papua over a pay
and benefits dispute ended on the fourth day, with the company agreeing
Saturday to raise

the pay of workers.

The agreement was reportedly made after representatives of the workers
raised their demands directly with Freeport chief executive James Moffet
in the United States via a

teleconference at 9 p.m. Saturday.

The workers requested their present basic salary of Rp 1.6 million
(approximately US$174) per month on average be raised to Rp 3.6 million.
On Saturday, both parties

agreed upon the average salary being raised to Rp 3.1 million.

A source involved in the talks said late Saturday that a written agreement
would be signed by representatives from Mimika regency, Mimika Legislative
Council, the

company and the Tongoi Papua group that represented the workers in the talks.

"The workers will return to work on Saturday night. They will travel to
the mine in Tembagapura on buses supplied by the company," the source said
in Kuala Kencana at

the headquarters of PT Freeport Indonesia, just outside the town of Timika.

On Friday, several agreements had been made in the talks, including
establishing a Papua Affairs department and replacing several company
officials.

The strike, which started Wednesday, helped push world copper prices to a
seven-month high.

Freeport, which produces more than 500,000 tons of copper annually and is
the country's largest source of tax revenue, said the strike did not
disrupt copper output at the

mine.

Freeport Indonesia spokesman Mindo Pangaribuan said the situation was calm
and the company was continuing mining and milling at reduced rates.

He said the company has also continued to ship concentrates according to
the existing schedule in accordance with available production and
inventories.

The company, he said, remained committed to continually training its
native Papuan employees, including increasing the number of native Papuan
employees occupying

senior positions within the organization.

In the last 10 years, the number of native Papuan workers in the company
has increased from 800 in 1996 to more than 3,000 at the start of this
year.

Critics have accused Freeport of not giving enough back to Papuans and of
allegedly causing pollution. Many have also argued that military
protection of the site has led to

human rights abuses. These claims have been disputed by the company.

---

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20070420.A06&irec=5

Freeport Timika mine capacity slashed by protest


The Jakarta Post, Timika, Jakarta

Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold's giant Grasberg copper mine in Papua is
running well below capacity due to a protest by thousands of workers that
the company has

branded an illegal strike.

The rally at the mine, which produces over 500,000 ton of copper annually
and is Indonesia's largest source of tax revenue, has helped lift copper
prices above US$8,000 a

ton on the London Metal Exchange and close to last May's record high of
$8,800.

The workers say the rally is over improving working conditions but in an
internal memorandum to employees, obtained by Reuters, the company called
the action that began

on Wednesday illegal.

According to the memo the president director of PT Freeport Indonesia,
Armando Mahler, said that workers could be subject to disciplinary
measures.

"In the evening a group of employees in a significant number left their
job without permission and marched from Tembagapura to Timika to
participate in an illegal strike,"

Mahler said.

Mahler began a meeting with Tongoi Papua, a workers group representing
native Papuans, on Thursday.

While workers say production at the mine, one of the world's largest gold
and copper operations, has been all but halted, Indonesia's energy
minister said production

continues but the mine is operating at well below capacity.

"Operations at the Grasberg open pit mine are running at 20 percent
capacity, the underground mine at 60 percent capacity. So they are still
operating, but below optimal

conditions," Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro told reporters in Jakarta.

"Clearly this is affecting state revenue because there will be a decrease
in production although they are still operating."

On Wednesday, Irianto Inury of the Tongoi Papua workers' group said that
no more ore was coming out of Grasberg.

"The waters around the mill plant are also clear, indicating that the
milling activities have also come to a halt," he added.

But Freeport has consistently rejected those claims.

"Our operations continue, including production of concentrate and metal,
and concentrate shipping," Mindo Pangaribuan, spokesman for Freeport
Indonesia, said in a

phone text message to Reuters.

Authorities beefed up security in Timika on Thursday with about 300
security personnel deployed near the Freeport office where armored
vehicles and riot police have

stood guard.

The Papuan workers are demanding fair career opportunities for native
workers, improved recruiting and better pensions. The protest coincides
with talks over a new two-

year collective labor agreement for Grasberg.

One of the workers' requests was a demand for a raise in their present
basic salary of an average of Rp 1.6 million (US$173.90) per month to Rp
3.6 million.

Other demands include changes to the members of the company's board of
management, who the workers say do not cooperate with the development of
workers' career

opportunities.

Tongoi Papua chairman Frans Pigome said that one of the management board
members who should be replaced was Mahler himself due to his reluctance to
help meet the

workers' requests.

Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Tommy Yacobus, who was at the protest site
to help maintain security, urged the management to settle the workers'
requests as soon as

possible.

"Tonggoi Papua is the brainchild of PT Freeport itself. Why should it take
a long time to settle the workers' demands?" asked Tommy.

Markus Makur contributed to this article from Timika, Papua.


---

http://www.antara.co.id/en/arc/2007/3/26/freeport-denies-to-have-damaged-sago-trees-in-timika/

Freeport denies to have damaged sago trees in Timika

Timika, Papua (ANTARA News)- PT Freeport Indonesia, an American gold
mining company, strongly denied it has damaged the sago trees farm and
other ecosystem as

accused by the people living in Ayuka area, East Timika district,
following the alleged flowing of tailing to their area.

"In 2006, we had a look at the flood-stricken location of the Ayuka tribe
and it turned out that no tailing was found, while the two dams built by
Freeport to control the flow of

its tailing were still intact and in a good condition," Mindo Pangaribuan,
spokesman for PT. Freeport, said in Timika, the capital of Mimika
district, on Sunday.

According to him, in the post-lood period of 2005, Ayuka residents also
expressed complaint to Freeport over their sago farm being inundated by
the flood.

The result of a study conducted by PT. Freeport, the two dams which built
to prevent the company`s tailing from flowing to other areas were still
intact. None of the dams

was damaged by the flood.

The problem now is that the flood has already inundated the southern parts
of the area, flooding the roads in Freeport`s location," Pangaribuan said.

As to a change in color of sago flour from white to yellowish, which had
affected the quality of sago, Pangaribuan said he did not know for sure
whether it was really

caused by tailing or by other things.

"I can not answer that and there is a team which would try to find this
out," he said.

Furthermore, he said that the handling of his company`s tailing in lower
areas of Mimika was specified in an agreement made by Freeport, indegenous
Kamoro people as

the holder of local customary areas for tailing and the authority of
Mimika district administration.

When it was publicized some years ago, a possible impact of the tailing
affecting other surrounding areas had also been taken into account, he
said.

In order to avoid a possible bad impact in the future, PT. Freeport had
built two big dams which might prevent the flow of the tailing to
surrounding areas.

Earlier, chief of the Kamoro tribe in Ayuka area, Pius Nimaipo said since
flash flood struck the area in 2005, many sago trees were obliterated.

Consequently, Ayuka residents found difficulty in finding sago trees to
meet the daily needs of their families, as sago was the staple food of the
Kamoro tribe. (*)

Copyright © 2007 ANTARA

---

http://www.antara.co.id/en/arc/2007/4/21/tribal-war-continues-in-nabire-papua/

National

04/21/07 14:23
Tribal war continues in Nabire, Papua

Jayapura, Papua (ANTARA News) - A tribal war between Me and Moni tribes in
Nabire Disrict, Papua Province, which started on Friday morning, continued
on Saturday

despite the presence of a number of Nabire policemen trying to stop the
conflict.

The two conflicting tribes shot arrows at each others while tens of
injured tribesmen were lying on the ground in the forest, ANTARA News
correspondent reported via

cellular phone from the location of the conflict on Saturday.

On the first day of the war (Friday, April 20), at least 30 tribesmen were
injured and rushed to Nabire Hospital for intensive medical care.

Police officers failed to end the conflict as the two tribes continued to
attack each others by using arrows and stones.

Papua, Indonesia`s eastern most province, has a number of tribes living in
remote areas. Indigenous Papuan people still live in traditional ways and
wara are still regarded

as a means to solve disputes.

The number of victims in tribal wars has raised serious concern and
prompted calls to find better ways of resolving disputes. Peace
negotiations mediated by traditional and

religious leaders, including the government, have often failed to cut the
cycle of vengeance between warring parties. (*)

Copyright © 2007 ANTARA

---

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/BUSINESS/04/22/indonesia.freeport.reut/

 Freeport miners head back to work
POSTED: 0153 GMT (0953 HKT), April 22, 2007


TIMIKA, Indonesia (Reuters) -- Thousands of workers headed back to
Freeport-McMoRan's Grasberg mine in Indonesia on Sunday in a fleet of
buses after ending a four-

day walkout that sent copper prices to seven-month highs.

The miners were due to resume work after Tongoi Papua, a group
representing native Papuan workers, reached a deal late on Saturday to end
the strike.

The huge mine on the island of Papua produces more than 500,000 tons of
copper annually and is Indonesia's biggest source of tax revenue.

"We are going to ask all workers who have been rallying to return to work
immediately," Frans Pigome, chairman of Tongoi Papua, told a news
conference late on

Saturday.

Freeport had agreed to increase the standard monthly salary to 3.1 million
rupiah ($341) from 1.5 million rupiah, he said. Workers had initially
asked for 3.6 million a

month.

The company had also agreed to set up a department to handle the welfare
of native Papuan workers.

He said the firm had also promised to replace a number of senior managers,
including Armando Mahler, president director of Freeport Indonesia, if it
was found that they

had failed to meet the company's commitment of improving the welfare of
workers.

Mindo Pangaribuan, a spokesman for Freeport Indonesia, said that the firm
had agreed to a feasibility study for the creation of a Papuan Affairs
Department and remained

committed to increasing the number of Papuans in senior posts.

The Papuan workers had demanded more career opportunities for native
workers, improved recruiting and better pensions. The protest coincided
with talks over a new two

-year collective labor agreement for Grasberg's 9,000 direct employees.

Arizona-based Freeport said on Saturday that mining and milling had been
hit, but said stocks were being used for shipping.

It is unclear how many workers had walked off the job. Organizers of the
protest put the total at 6,000, but that includes 2,000 with companies
sub-contracted by Freeport.

With copper in short supply worldwide, traders have been watching
developments closely at the mine.

The walk-out helped lift copper prices above $8,000 per ton on the London
Metal Exchange on Friday, its highest level since September 7. The
all-time high was $8,800,

reached last May.

The Grasberg mine has long been controversial because of its environmental
impact, the share of revenue going to Papuans and the legality of payments
to Indonesian

security forces who help guard the site.

Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.

---

http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=31677


Radio New Zealand International

The Voice of New Zealand, Broadcasting to the Pacific

Te Reo Irirangi O Aotearoa, O Te Moana-Nui-A-Kiwa

Papuans at Indonesia’s main mine win concessions

Posted at 03:13 on 23 April, 2007 UTC

Papuan workers at the Grasberg mine in Indonesia’s Papua province say
their employers have agreed to a number of their demands.

Thousands of Papuan workers returned to work at the weekend, ending a
five-day strike after management from a subsidiary of US firm Freeport
McMoRan agreed to

some of their demands.

The group representing the workers, Tongoi Papua, were demanding higher
wages, improved welfare, and better access to management-level jobs for
Papuan workers.

Tongoi Papua’s secretary, Penina Karma, says the company has now agreed to
raise the workers’ monthly salary of 174 US dollars to 340 dollars.

And she says the establishment of a Papua Affairs department at the
project will ensure Papuans more benefits and representation...

    “For more Papuans in the level of middle management - they agree about
that. And the other is, they said that there must be a reshuffle of
people who are not serious

about the commitment to develop Papuans.”

Penina Karma

---

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article1690312.ece


>From The Times
April 23, 2007
Copper price could fall after miners win 100% pay rise
Carl Mortished, International Business Editor

The world price of copper will come under pressure this morning after
thousands of workers at the Grasberg mine in Papua, Indonesia, ended a
four-day strike yesterday.

The strike at Grasberg lit up the London Metal Exchange’s (LME) copper
market last week with conflicting reports over production losses after
workers began to protest on

Tuesday.

Mining companies and their investors are also likely to be perturbed by
the fact that Freeport McMoran, the American mining company that owns
Grasberg, saw off the

strike by agreeing to double workers’ wages. Firms are worried by rising
production costs and are especially concerned that they may start to
spiral out of control.

More than 6,000 Papuans walked off the job, threatening output at the huge
open-pit operation, which produces more than 500,000 tonnes of copper
annually and is the

Indonesian Government’s biggest source of revenue.

Anxiety about production cuts at one of the world’s biggest copper
resources, together with continuing strong demand from China, combined to
push the LME’s three-month

copper contract above $8,000 a tonne on Friday.

The vast Grasberg operation, which supplies about 4 per cent of the
world’s copper, has been plagued with controversy over its effect on the
environment, the share of the

profits that are received by Papua and relations with the local Papuan
workforce. Reports from Indonesia suggested that output at the mine was
running at 20 per cent of

normal levels during the walkout.

Tongoi Papua, the union representing the Grasberg workers, claimed victory
over the weekend.

“We are satisfied,” Frans Pigome, head of Tongoi Papua, said. “After more
than 40 years in operation, this is the most spectacular increase. They
could have increased it

years ago, but they think only how to profit themselves.”

Freeport has agreed to raise basic wages from 1.5 million rupiah (£82) a
month to 3.1 million rupiah. In addition to the wage increase, the union
had been seeking better

career opportunities for Papuans at the mine.

Freeport Indonesia said that the company had agreed to a feasibility study
for the creation of a Papuan affairs department and remained committed to
increasing the

number of Papuans in senior posts.

The Grasberg strike is the latest incident in a tide of labour unrest that
threatens the global mining industry with rocketing wage inflation,
another headache to add to the

burden of energy costs and an acute shortage of equipment, from lorries to
tyres. The price of copper has risen fourfold in five years because of
extraordinary increases

in demand in emerging markets, notably China, where the construction and
manufacturing sectors are consuming copper pipe and wire.

Other base metals, such as iron ore and nickel, are benefiting from Asia’s
growth and the soaring rices have raised expectations among mining
communities, which are

seeking a share of the super-profits from a hot metal market. In March
Zambian copper miners secured wage increases of 20 per cent and over the
past year Codelco, the

Chilean state copper mining company, has suffered a wave of strikes and
protests over new labour contracts.

A strike at Escondida, the Chilean copper mine operated by BHP Billiton,
effectively shut down the world’s biggest copper producer for a month in
August last year. In

March this year Inco, the Canadian nickel mine recently acquired by CVRD,
of Brazil, was shut down in a dispute involving technical and office
workers.

GDP figures from China that were stronger than expected caused further
jitters in base metal prices last week as traders reacted to expectations
of greater demand and, at

the same time, fears that China would tighten monetary policy in an effort
to dampen demand.

---

http://www.gulfnews.com/business/Shipping/10120164.html

 Berlian plans fleet expansion

Reuters


Singapore: Indonesia's largest shipper of liquid cargo, Berlian Laju
Tanker, said last week that it plans to increase its fleet by up to 15
vessels as part of a $500 million

expansion plan that will see the company expand beyond palm-oil and
chemicals into LNG.

The company - which has a total of 59 vessels, including oil and chemical
tankers and gas carriers - announced the expansion plan earlier last week
but gave no details.

The plan will be put to a shareholder vote at a meeting on May 24.

Berlian business development director Siana Anggraeni Surya said in an
interview that more than half of the new vessels may be bought
second-hand, which is quicker

than building them new.

Looking for charters

Last year, the company - which is listed in both Jakarta and Singapore -
already earmarked $400 million to build 13 new vessels, which are now
under construction at

yards in Japan and South Korea for delivery by 2011. Those 13 vessels
under construction included two liquified natural gas (LNG) carriers.

"The LNG carriers would be our first foray into the LNG market which we
believe has lots of growth potential both in Indonesia and elsewhere,"
Siana Anggraeni Surya,

Berlian's business development director, said.

Surya is the daughter of company chairman Hadi Surya, who owns 48.7 per
cent of the firm, which has a market value of $920 million.

The LNG carriers, to be delivered in 2008 and 2009, will be jointly owned
by US shipper Teekay Shipping.

The two carriers will be used to transport LNG from Indonesia's Tangguh
gas field to the US west coast under a 20-year contract, Surya said.

Teekay has a 70 per cent stake in the LNG carriers, she said.

Surya said Berlian Laju was also looking for contracts for Floating
Storage Offloading (FSO) and Floating Production Storage Offloading (FPSO)
vessels to expand into the

offshore oil industry services sector, as more offshore fields are likely
to be developed in Australia and Southeast Asia.

"We are looking for a few FSO and FPSO contracts and if we do get one we
will start by converting one of our own tankers," she said.

Berlian owns one FPSO, converted from an oil tanker in 2000, which is
currently working on Indonesia's Salawati oil field in Papua.

Surya said the company was also looking for charters to transport
vegetable oil from South American producers to Europe and China. This is
already big business for

Berlian, which transports palmoil from Malaysia and Indonesia to China,
India and Pakistan.

"Moving to South America is part of our strategy to spread the business
geographically," she said.

Big business: Half of new vessels to be second-hand

    * Berlian Laju Tanker says half of the new vessels may be bought
second-hand, which is quicker than building them new.
    * The LNG carriers, to be delivered in 2008 and 2009, will be jointly
owned by US shipper Teekay Shipping.
    * The two carriers will be used to transport LNG from Indonesia's
Tangguh gas field to the US west coast under a 20-year contract.
    * The company was also looking for charters to transport vegetable oil
from South American producers to Europe and China. This is already big
business for Berlian,

which transports palmoil from Malaysia and Indonesia to China, India and
Pakistan.


---

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/04/23/ap3641784.html?partner=alerts


Associated Press
Earnings Preview: Freeport-McMoRan
Associated Press 04.23.07, 3:56 PM ET

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. reports earnings for the first quarter
on Wednesday. The following is a summary of key developments and analyst
opinion related to

the period.

OVERVIEW: Metals miner Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. said it saw a
decline in fourth-quarter profit along with a drop-off in sales from a
mine in Indonesia.

However, its adjusted earnings beat analyst expectations.

On March 19, the company completed a $25.9 billion cash-and-stock
acquisition of Phelps Dodge Corp., creating the world's largest publicly
traded copper company.

Phelps Dodge is working on an $850 million expansion of its Cerro Verde
mine in Peru. It also is building a $550 million copper mine near Safford,
Ariz., and planning a

$650 million copper mine at Tenke Fungurme in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo.

BY THE NUMBERS: Analysts polled by Thomson Financial project earnings of
$2.09 per share on sales of $3.02 billion.

ANALYST TAKE: Prudential Equity Group LLC analyst John Tumazos in a client
note said demand for other base metals outpaced demand growth for copper
in the first

two months of the year. He said the difference was likely due to the
ongoing lag in the housing sector, manufacturing outsourcing to China and
substitutions for copper in

production of some items.

In a separate client note, the analyst noted that prices for copper and
gold remain high. He has an "Overweight" rating and $82 target price on
shares.

WHATS AHEAD: "We believe evidence of a seasonal recovery in copper is
unfolding on the back of China's strong demand, while the threat of supply
disruptions

remains," wrote Goldman Sachs analyst Hongyu Cai in a recent client note.

STOCK PERFORMANCE: Shares rose about 19 percent in the three-month period
ended in March.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press.

---

Dow Jones Newswire - April 17, 2007
By Allen Sykora

PTFI/GREAT STRIDES MADE IN PROVISION OF BENEFITS TO PAPUANS

ICCA still has contract labor concerns at Grasberg

Freeport McMoRan (FCX)'s Grasberg mine in Indonesia has been the site of
labor contention lately, but a group that promotes corporate
responsibility said except for some areas such as use of contract labor,
the company has made great strides in implementing policies to benefit
native Papuan employees.

Freeport established guiding principles several years ago to help
advance Papuans at its Grasberg copper and gold mine operated by its
affiliate, P.T. Freeport Indonesia. As part of its commitment, the
company contracted with the International Center for Corporate
Accountability to audit its progress.

The ICCA Web site says it has "complete discretion" issuing reports
"without any censorship from Freeport," other than the company can
respond to the findings.

The company's policies are in the spotlight because Tongoi Papua, a
labor group that lobbies on behalf of Freeport's native employers from
Papua, has called a protest over advancement opportunities and benefits
for Papuan employees. Concerns about labor unrest have contributed to a
rise in copper prices.

S. Prakash Sethi, president of the ICCA, Tuesday reported progress at
operations in a number of areas between audits conducted in 2004 and
late 2006.

"Freeport is doing as well as could be expected," Sethi said, especially
considering the perception that many mining companies generally have
done little in the way of economic and social development.

"They are beginning to put tremendous effort into training," he said. "A
lot of mining jobs are technically oriented, even though they are muscle
jobs."

The ICCA is a non-profit organization founded to promote good corporate
citizenship worldwide, with the mission of urging companies to
accomplish this through voluntary standards. Its board is comprised of
economists, political scientists, engineers, religious leaders and
ethicists from the U.S. and other parts of the world.

One of the main differences between the ICCA and company, however, is
the use of contract labor, which Sethi said accounts for perhaps 10%-15%
of the jobs. Indonesian law only allows use of contract workers for
certain conditions, such as seasonal work or one-time jobs. Yet, some
had been in their jobs for up to half a decade, Sethi said.

"Our concern is these workers were being paid anywhere from 20%-30% less
than the workers on the Freeport payroll," Sethi said. The difference is
going to administrative fees of contractors, he added.

After the 2004 audit, the company maintained it was using contract
workers as a training tool, Sethi said.

"When we went in 2006 (for another audit), some of the practices had
been corrected, but some were still there," Sethi said.

The ICCA later received a legal memorandum explaining why the practices
should be considered acceptable under Indonesian law, he said.

"We are not satisfied with that and are exercising our right and have
asked for an independent legal opinion from another law firm in
Indonesia with very strong credentials," Sethi said. "Then we would know
if the current practices meet the law."

If so, "there is nothing we could do about it. But if they are not, we
would insist that they be corrected."

The main problems, he emphasized, are not with Freeport itself but with
the private companies operating in the mining area.

Otherwise, Sethi characterized wages and benefits at the Grasberg mine
itself as fair.

"The mine is so rich that they don't chisel on wages because they cannot
afford unhappy workers," he said. Likewise, the ICCA is satisfied with
the safety aspect. The company has an added incentive since accidents
otherwise would cost millions of dollars in the event of shutdowns, he
said.

The 2004 ICCA audit determined Freeport had met a commitment to double
the number of Papuans working at the mine site between 1996 and 2004,
and then again from 2000 to 2004, Sethi said.

"Our concern at that time was that while the numbers were met, most of
the workers were at the bottom of the totem pole at the entry level and
there was not enough movement upwards," Sethi said.

To help change this, a change was made in expenditures from a fund
dedicated to and managed by the Papuans, Sethi said. The company
contributes 1% of its revenue from the Grasberg mine to the fund, which
amounts to millions of dollars annually.

Previously, scholarships had been given to allow Papuans to attend
colleges. However, Sethi said, it turned out many were getting money
when they were not even attending classes, or else earnings degrees that
would not necessarily help them work at the mine.

"The bottom line is the program was totally out of control and eating up
almost 30% of the budget and not delivering anything," said Sethi.

Since, a change has made in which scholarships have been cut back.

Instead, an emphasis has been put on educating young Papuans so they
will later be prepared for higher education, Sethi said.

Freeport did not immediately return a call for comment.