PORT MORESBY - SEVERAL Chinese staff were injured in a rampage by Papua New Guinea mine workers who trashed vehicles and equipment at a major nickel project, reports and management said on Monday.
The violence on Friday halted construction work at the US$1.37 billion (S$1.5 billion) Chinese-run Ramu mine's Basamuk refinery site in Madang on the northern coast of the Pacific nation.
'There was a lot of damage caused with more than 30 vehicles destroyed while workers' accommodation blocks and plant equipment were extensively damaged,' said deputy general manager Wu Xuefeng of Ramu NiCo Management (MCC) Ltd.
Five Chinese and three locals injured in the fracas were treated at a local hospital. Three of the Chinese were later evacuated to the capital Port Moresby in a serious condition, local media reported.
Mr Wu said the attack was sparked by a misunderstanding about an earlier industrial accident in which a local worker was injured.
'We call on the PNG government and police to fully investigate the incident and bring the perpetrators to justice, and to promptly restore law and order on site,' he said in a statement carried by The National newspaper.
'The situation is now calm; however there are a number of police on site investigating the incident,' Highlands Pacific, which owns an 8.56 per cent stake in the project, said in a statement.
The Chinese government-owned Metallurgical Group Corporation, known as MCC, is the majority owner of the joint venture, which has been troubled by allegations of mistreatment of local labour.
The operation is still scheduled to start output for 31,150 tonnes of nickel and 3,300 tonnes of cobalt annually by the end of 2009, Highlands said, but MCC was still assessing the full impact of the situation. -- AFP
