3 Jun 2013

Second accident in three weeks at Papua mine kills truck driver

5:28 am on 3 June 2013

A second accident at Freeport McMoRan's copper mine in Indonesia's Papua province in under three weeks, killed a driver, threatened to cause a prolonged closure there, and hit global supplies of the metal.

The company says driver Herman Wahid died on Friday after his truck was covered in wet muck, prompting a union official to call on his members to stop work at Grasberg, the world's second-biggest copper mine.

Mr Wahid was rushed to Tembagapura Hospital where doctors fought to save his life. The company says the circumstances were inconsistent with their safety protocols and are investigating the incident.

Earlier on Friday, Papua-based union official Virgo Solossa asked the company to stop all activities at the remote complex, and to review safety systems.

Freeport suspended operations at the complex in eastern Indonesia on May the 15th, a day after a training area tunnel, away from the site of its main operations, caved in on 38 workers.

Twenty-eight people died in the disaster, one of the worst mining accidents in Indonesia's history.