The brief strike at Inmet Mining‘s (IMN-T) Ok Tedi mine in Papua New Guinea is over and the company says workers are slated to be back at the project on March 15.
While the strike lasted only four days, Inmet says it still managed to hit production to the tune of 2,500 lost tonnes of copper and 6,400 lost ounces gold. Inmet’s share in the metals is 450 tonnes for the copper and 1,200 oz. of the gold, as it has an 18% stake in the mine.
In Toronto on March 14 Inmet shares closed at $85.54, down 46 on 383,000 shares traded. The company has roughly 48 million shares outstanding.
Ok Tedi occupies a huge space in the Papua New Guinean economy as it makes up roughly 20% of the country’s exports, and is partly owned by the government.
The mine provides for just over 1% of the world’s copper concentrate.
Workers walked after seeing mining engineers at the site get a 100% wage hike. There demand was simple, they wanted the same raise.
The details of the settlement weren’t made public.
In 2007, Ok Tedi produced 169,184 tonnes of copper in concentrate and 498,790 ounces of gold. The mine accounts for roughly 20% of the country’s exports.
PNG Sustainable Development Program holds 52% of Ok Tedi. PNG is a government run organization that was a product of a deal between former mine operator BHP Billiton (BHP-N, BLT-L) and the government.
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