In Jakarta, hundreds of workers at the troubled Busang gold mine in East Kalimantan province, have taken four people hostage to back up demands for severance pay. Two Indonesian executives of Canadian-firm Bre-X Minerals and two Filipino geologists are being held.

Since the Busang controversy erupted, 400-workers have been told they will be unemployed from tomorrow and many reportedly fear they will not be paid.

Claims by Bre-X that it had found reserves of up to 200-million ounces of gold at Busang were refuted by an independent geological survey service.