Ok Tedi Copper Miners Strike Over Wage Dispute

Striking workers at Papua New Guinea's (PNG) Ok Tedi copper mine are in talks with management and government arbitrators over a wage dispute, costing up to US$12m a day in lost production.

The workers, who want a 100 percent wage rise, are locked in talks with the Allied Workers Union, mine operator Ok Tedi Mining Ltd (OTML) and the Department of Labour and Industrial Relations, a mine spokeswoman told Reuters.

The mine, located in the remote Star Mountains of PNG's Western Province, is operated by OTML, which is 52 percent-owned by PNG Sustainable Development Program, an independent firm set up to fund development projects in the country.

By staff writer