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old miner PT Freeport Indonesia, a subsidiary of US-based giant mining firm Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc., and a workers union finally signed a deal on their payment scheme for the 2013 to 2015 period on Tuesday.

Under the deal, which is called the 18th Collective Labor Agreement, employees will enjoy a 20 percent increase in their salaries. The increase will be divided into two stages '€” a 10 percent increase in the first year of the scheme period and another 10 percent in the second year.

'€œBesides the increase in salary, there are also other benefits,'€ Freeport Indonesia president director Rozik B. Soetjipto said on Tuesday after the signing ceremony of the new labor agreement.

Sudiro, the chairman of Freeport Indonesia Workers Union, said the labor association was satisfied with the deal, although it had previously asked for a 40 percent increase in salary.

He added the pension multiplying factor was increased to 1.75 from the previous 1.5. The factor, Sudiro said, would be multiplied by an employee'€™s basic salary and work period.

However, he said, the union might propose that the multiplying factor be increased to 2 in the next collective labor agreement.

Freeport Indonesia and the workers union had to delay talks on the collective labor agreement in May when the mining firm ceased operations due to a fatal incident at its training facility in Papua. As many as 28 people died in the incident. The company resumed its operations last July.

According to figures released by its parent company, Freeport Indonesia'€™s copper production increased by 27 percent to 253 million pounds in the third quarter of the year compared to 199 million in the same period last year. Thus, the company'€™s total copper production in the nine-month period ended September amounted to 611 million pounds, a 23 percent increase from 495 million pounds in the same period last year.

Total sales in the third quarter reached 237 million pounds, a 21 percent increase on the 195 million pounds year-on-year. The total sales amounted to US$593 million during the first nine months of the year, increasing by around 16 percent from the $512 million in the same period last year.

Freeport Indonesia produced 297,000 ounces of gold in the third quarter of the year, a 63 percent surge from 182,000 ounces in the third quarter of 2012. Thus, production during the January-to-September period reached 640,000 ounces, up slightly from 641,000 ounces in the same period last year.

Gold sales amounted to 278,000 ounces in the third quarter, up 56 percent from 178,000 ounces year-on-year. However, the nine-month sales amounted to 620,000 ounces, down by about 10 percent from the 691,000 ounces in the January-to-September period in 2012.

Freeport Indonesia'€™s total revenues amounted to $1.11 billion in the three months ended September, increasing by around 12 percent from $991 million year-on-year. The operating profits for the third quarter were $404 million, up by around 33 percent from $303 million in the same period last year.

For the January-to-September period, Freeport Indonesia booked $2.63 billion in revenues, down by around 9 percent from $2.9 billion year-on-year. Operating income stood at $643 million in the first nine months of the year, a significant 32 percent drop from $949 million in the same period last year.