resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo visited the gold and copper mines of PT Freeport Indonesia in Mimika, Papua, on Thursday, where he inaugurated the company’s first 5G mining technology.
Jokowi is the second Indonesian president to visit Freeport – the local arm of United States mining giant Freeport-McMoran Inc. – which has been majority-owned by state-owned mining holding company MIND ID since 2018.
Speaking at the event, Jokowi hailed what he called Southeast Asia’s first 5G smart mining system, a technology run by Freeport in collaboration with state-owned telecommunications firm Telkomsel.
"[5G technology] supports automation and remote control and also improves workers' safety and the productivity of Freeport Indonesia," he said.
Jokowi said he was happy to see that the majority of the employees working for Freeport were Indonesian, specifically Papuan.
The day before, in a gathering of Freeport employees attended by Jokowi, Freeport-McMoran CEO Richard Adkerson said expats had been largely phased out of Freeport Indonesia.
“Today we have a workforce that approaches 30,000 people. Ninety-eight percent of our employees are Indonesian, over 40 percent are Papuans,” Adkerson said.
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