Indonesia wants control of Freeport's Grasberg within two years

Jakarta

THE dispute engulfing the world's second-biggest copper mine deepened as Indonesia's government said it planned to take a majority stake in the local unit of owner Freeport-McMoRan Inc within two years while workers at the pit threatened to go on strike.

The state enterprises ministry has cleared a government-run company to buy a majority stake in PT Freeport Indonesia, the local unit that runs the massive Grasberg mine in Papua province, according to Fajar Harry Sampurno, the deputy minister for mining, media and strategic industries.