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Download Protests in West Papua, Indonesia, have led to the temporary closures at the world’s largest gold and copper mine.

On strike for the second month straight, workers at the giant US mining firm Freeport McMoRan refuse to return to the mine until their wages are significantly increased.

The mine is now operating at reduced capacity and has suffered huge losses.

Pressure is mounting on the multinational company to offer a fairer deal to the communities around the mine.

Kate Lamb reports from Jakarta.

Early this week, workers blockaded the road to the giant Freeport McMoran mine with heavy machinery.

A pipeline channeling gold and copper to a port was cut in several places.

In response to the attack a senior official from Freeport Sinta Sirait called on Indonesian security forces to act.

“We ask the security forces to take concrete action on the ground. We have just come from the office of the Minister for Energy and Natural Resources to lodge our complaint. We request assistance from the security forces and our hope is this illegal and unruly strike will end.”

Workers mostly native Papuans are demanding their salaries be increased from a minimum of $1.50 to $7.50 an hour.

John Rumkoren has been employed at the mine for more than a decade and is also member of the Freeport Worker’s Union.

“Freeport Indonesia is a giant company, the largest in the world. It has the largest production of gold than any other FCX company in North America, South America and Africa. And we have the cheapest production costs worldwide. As a result the workers from Freeport are demanding that our wages are made equal to those in North America, South America and Africa.”

As negotiations between management and its workers have failed the strikes have turned violent.

A clash between protestors and police resulted in the death of one and injured six others last Monday.

An ambush on Friday, allegedly by Papuan separatists claimed the lives of three more.

For decades, Papuans have been struggling for independence from Indonesia.

The US mining firm plays a crucial role in that struggle: For many Papuans, it’s a symbol of inequality and human rights abuses.

“For most Papuans, who live on Papuan land, Freeport has been in Papua for 44 years but they don’t contribute to the Papuan people. Contributions from Freeport only go to the police and the military and then they come and kill us.”

Today, Freeport is one of Indonesia's biggest tax-payers. In the last five years the firm says it has paid about $8 billion US dollars to the Jakarta government.

The mine also provides employment to scores of Indonesian police who are mandated by Indonesian law to protect the mine.

This used to be the job of the Indonesian military, who are still sometimes asked to provide extra support.

Human rights groups say Freeport is effectively financing the Indonesian military in Papua, and is turning a blind eye to the soldiers' human rights abuses.

“The Indonesian military of course was in there, and more and more there was Kopassus and Kostrad. They liked to protect the Freeport mine because they got baksheeh, they got paid by Freeport.”

That’s Australian academic Denise Leith who spent five years researching a book about the controversial mine.

She says Papuans have resisted Freeport from the start.

“Right from the beginning they put little sticks around, that was their way of keeping strangers off the land. They didn’t want Freeport right from the beginning. From day one, there have been protests, but of course the Indonesians just took absolutely no notice because they didn't give a damn about the West Papuan people and just wanted Freeport's money. Freeport wrote its own contract. They were just really pleased to get Freeport in there. I think it was the first big international contract that the Suharto regime signed. Freeport did whatever they wanted there up until about 1995, whatever they wanted.”

Indonesia’s economy is growing rapidly on the back of a commodities boom.

In the second quarter of this year alone, Freeport saw its profits double to $1.4 billion dollars.

Very little of that is trickling down to Indonesia’s poorest and the gap between the rich and the poor is growing. 

Jakarta-based risk analyst Todd Elliot says the number of conflicts between poor communities and big companies is on the rise this year.

“Right, it’s not just Papua. We see this everywhere, in Kalimantan also. There is a huge wealth gap and it is getting wider. Indonesia’s growth is not evenly distributed. We have seen this from attacks on other mining operations where they had promised to employ a certain number of people and build infrastructure but didn’t so locals attacked the sites.”

Freeport’s workers say they will continue their strike until their wage demands are met.

For Papuan native John Rumkorem, securing a fairer deal from Freeport is for next generation.

“Why are Papuans poor even though there is such a massive company located in the center of Papua? That is the question. There is a large corporation, but Papuans are still poor and that poverty will cause the downfall of future generations. This is why we question it.”