Relations between Freeport and its workforce remain strained after a series of blockades following a fatal accident last month, with at least two protests staged this week, union officials told Reuters. The government had also imposed a partial closure for a period after the accident.

A prolonged fall in output or a flare-up in worker unrest at the Papua mine, which employs around 24,000 people, could provide some support for copper prices and would be a test for Indonesia's new government.

'In the short term, no significant impact,' Freeport's local CEO, Rozik Soetjipto told Reuters by text when asked about the two protests earlier this week. 'We can maintain production at 80 percent.

'We have not fully recovered from the impact of the export ban and work stoppages since Oct 12 by some of our Grasberg workforce.'

Freeport halted exports from January until August after the government imposed a hefty export tax aimed at forcing miners to develop local processing.

Under normal conditions, the Grasberg open pit produces around 140,000 tons of copper ore per day and the underground mine about 80,000 tons. While the vast majority of Freeport Indonesia workers continued to perform their daily functions, absenteeism at the Grasberg open pit had affected mining and mill rates in November, Eric Kinneberg, a spokesman for the Arizona-based firm, told Reuters by email. (***) 

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