Reuters reported that Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold's Indonesian unit has restarted concentrate shipments after 3 month strike ended in December, an official said on Wednesday, a sign that work at the world's second largest copper mine was returning to normal.

Mr Dwi Bagus an assistant manager at the smelter told Reuters that copper smelter PT Smelting, which is part-owned by Freeport, is again receiving copper concentrate from the mine.

But Mr Bagus declined to say when shipments restarted or the quantity of concentrate the smelter received, but a source at Amamapare port in Papua province said Freeport Indonesia shipped 27,000 tonnes of concentrate to PT Smelting in December.

The source at the port, which is near the Grasberg mine, also said cargo vessels containing 26,590 tonnes of Freeport copper concentrate left for east Java on Wednesday.

(Sourced from Reuters)