Fresh shooting near Freeport mine in Papua, 1 hurt

JAKARTA, Sept 16 (Reuters) - A security guard was wounded in a shooting near Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc's (FCX.N) Grasberg mine in Indonesia's Papua province, a company spokesman said on Wednesday, the latest in a series of attacks in the area.

The shootings did not affect production at the mine, which accounts for nearly 40 percent of Freeport's total copper reserves of 93 billion pounds, and boasts the world's largest gold reserves, spokesman Mindo Pangaribuan said.

"There were shots fired at a security apparatus convoy at around 11 a.m. local time near East Levee's Kali Kopi area. This area is not along our main mine road. One security apparatus personnel sustained injuries requiring treatment," said Freeport spokesman Mindo Pangaribuan.

A series of shootings by unidentified gunmen near the mine in recent weeks, most recently on last Saturday, have resulted in some casualties, but so far there has been no impact on production.

The police and military said they have stepped up security in Papua, the easternmost part of the sprawling Indonesian archipelago. The Grasberg mine is about 3,350 km (2,080 miles) east of Indonesia's capital Jakarta.

Freeport said on its website it expected its Indonesian unit to sell 1.3 billion pounds of copper this year, up from 1.1 billion pounds of copper in 2008.

Some analysts have tied recent outbreaks of violence to possible conflicts between the police and military over lucrative security arrangements at the mine and related business ventures, charges the authorities have rejected.

(For a Q+A on the Freeport shootings, click [ID:nJAK204756])

(Reporting by Fitri Wulandari; Writing by Sunanda Creagh; Editing by Ed Davies)