Strike impacts Freeport's Grasberg mine, workers 'resigned'

Freeport McMoRan said on Thursday that mining and milling rates at its Grasberg copper mine, in Papua, Indonesia, have been affected as some 9 000 workers stage an extended strike, and a "large number" of approximately 4 000 absentee workers were deemed to have resigned. Escalating tensions with workers is a further disruption for Freeport, entangled in an ongoing dispute with Indonesia over rights to the giant mine, which has cost both sides hundreds of millions of dollars.