Freeport says blockade lifted at Indonesia copper mine

A two-day blockade preventing access to the giant Grasberg openpit copper mine operated by the Indonesian unit of Freeport-McMoRan has ended after a meeting with workers on safety, the company said in a statement late on Thursday. The government expects mining activities at the openpit, which accounts for more than half of the facility's total output, will remain suspended until Tuesday, while it investigates the deaths of four workers at the mine on Saturday.