Freeport says Indonesia ops normal after arson attack
JAKARTA, July 8 (Reuters) - The massive Grasberg mine in Papua, run by a unit of Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (FCX.N), was running normally after a bus and security post nearby were set ablaze on Wednesday morning, officials said.
The arson attacks near the mine were an attempt to block a road leading to the mine, Papua police chief Bagus Ekodanto said.
"They (the group) did not take over the mine. There is no problem at Freeport now," Ekodanto said.
PT Freeport Indonesia said no one had been hurt and operations at the mine had not been disrupted.
"Production and operations at Freeport are running normally as it did not happen in the mining areas," Freeport Indonesia spokesman Mindo Pangaribuan said.
The arson attacks happened as Indonesia held presidential elections on Wednesday, but police said it was unclear if the arson attacks had any link to the voting.
Freeport expects its Indonesia unit to sell 1.3 billion pounds of copper and 2.2 million ounces of gold this year, up from 1.1 billion pounds of copper and 1.2 million ounces of gold in 2008, the firm said on its website.
The Grasberg mine, which has the world's largest recoverable reserves of copper and the largest gold reserve, accounts for nearly 40 percent of Freeport's total copper reserves of 93 billion pounds, according to the firm's website.
Freeport is the world's largest publicly traded copper miner.
(Reporting by Fitri Wulandari, Telly Nathalia, Olivia Rondonuwu and Oka Barta Daud in Papua; Editing by Ed Davies)
