- Freeport McMoRan (FCX +1.8%) says a fire broke out Thursday night at the main port it uses in Papua, Indonesia, where copper concentrate from its Grasberg copper mine is processed before loading onto vessels for shipping.
- The cause of the incident is not yet known, but maintenance reportedly had been carried out at the port earlier in the day.
- Separately, the Indonesian government is evacuating villages it says have been occupied by armed separatists after a string of shootings near the Grasberg mine; two police have been killed and at least 12 people wounded by gunfire in the area since mid-August.
- The separatist West Papua National Liberation Army, which has claimed responsibility for the shootings, blames FCX’s presence for environmental destruction in the area around Grasberg.