Operations resumed at the world’s largest gold mine in Indonesia, the company running it said Saturday, after staff blocked the site to protest that they could not visit their families due to virus problems.
This week, more than 1,000 workers demonstrated on the mine’s main front of the mine over the resolution of cancelling the bus to Timika city in reaction to considerations of the spread of coronavirus infections.
Many staff members had been unable to leave the high-altitude open pit mine which is also a primary copper mine for six months.
More than 1000 workers had organized a demonstration on the main front of the Photo mine: AFP / HUSYEN ABDILLAH
Freeport spokeswoman Riza Pratama told the AFP on Saturday that the obstacle had risen after a long negotiation.
Several buses left the mine on Friday night, dressed in those who had been granted permission, said local corporate spokesman Kerry Yarangga.
These buses will be controlled with strict fitness protocols, adding Covid-19 tests, Yarangga said.
In May, Freeport said it would be the number of workers at the mine, which hired some 25,000 people, after the build-up of infections in the area.