Freeport looking for more minerals to extract from Papua

Freeport looking for more minerals to extract from Papua

Jubi, 21 June 2011 - A crater that is many metres wide and as deep as a three-storey house is to be found at Mile Post 74 within the area of the mining concession of Freeport-Indonesia (PTFI). Thousands of people working for Freeport say that they know nothing about the mining potential of this deep crater and what exactly Freeport intends to mine there.

Some of the workers are quoted as saying: 'The company is concealing information about the minerals it plans to mine. Some have mentioned copper but more recently mention has been made of gold, silver, iron, and other minerals about which nothing has been reported officially.' The workers believe that as many as nine new minerals are going to be mined there.

As regards the natural resources now being researched, the crater is said to be much greater than the one dug for the Grasberg mine to the north.

One worker said that it is not only a question of nine more minerals being exploited by Freeport. As regards the geo-science potential from Papua, most of the minerals will be taken abroad. One worker who is familiar with the minerals in Grasberg said that it is only if the minerals are processed here and not taken abroad that we will be able to know what Freeport it intending to extract. 'It is likely that the stuff will be taken abroad through pipes so that no one here knows what is there.

Another report from JUBI of the same day says that foreign investors are busy investigating what more they can take away from Papua. Freeport undertook a major research a while ago near Kampung Ugimba.

'People from the company who work in Tembagapura have been seen frequently coming and going, and we have been told that there is uranium there.'

JUBI has been told that aerial surveying - aerogeophysics -has been used to survey the mineral potential.

They have been using helicopters to assess the uranium potential, he said. Once this has been ascertained, more conventional techniques will be used.

As yet, Freeport has said nothing about these searches. But for sure, the company has been undertaking many surveys in various parts of Papua.

ENDS

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