A blockade by protesters at the giant gold mine in Indonesia's Papua province has entered its fourth day. Small-scale miners who have been prevented by police and security guards from scavanging in the mine's tailings say they are determined to keep up the blockade until their demands are met. The mine is operated by a subsidiary of the US-based Freeport McMoRan and provides substantial income to the Indonesian Government.

Presenter/Interviewer: Karon Snowdon

Speakers: Torry Kuswardono, Mining Campaigner with Indonesia's Friends of the Earth.

Snowdon: Unconfirmed reports on the first day of trouble, Tuesday said several people had been injured when security tried to remove protesters from blocking a road to the mine. Since then there's been a stand-off with no-one arrested.

The closure of the mine's operations would have cost millions of dollars every day in lost earnings for Freeport. But the protesters say they won't budge until the US based boss of Freeport, Jim-Bob Moffat meets with them.

They want to continue their scavenging in the waste tailings of the world's biggest gold mine.

Torry Kuswardono is the mining campaigner for Indonesia's Friends of the Earth. He says the unusual self-control of the hundreds of security personnel facing off the protesters is a reflection of Freeport wanting to avoid more attention.

Kuswardono: It is quite unusual, because usually years ago, police could easily crush every protest in Papua, but I think it's because Freeport has been in attention for months since the New York Times released their report, particularly on the connections between Freeport and Indonesian military and police. So I think the police and the security forces are quite careful to handle these situations.

Snowdon: And is it your understanding that the protesters intend to blockade the mine for as long as it takes to get what they want?

Kuswardono: Yes, they demand to have negotiations with James Moffat the Commissioner of Freeport.

Snowdon: James or Jim-Bob Moffat has been to Freeport that was ten years ago to talk with the local people, thousands of whom have been forcefully removed from their tribal lands. Others have died at the hands of the notorious Indonesian security forces employed by the mine.

Freeport shifts hundreds of thousands of tonnes of rock a day, dumps contaminated waste into the river which serves the locals, earns billions from gold and copper and employs mostly non-locals in its 9-thousand strong workforce.

Freeport said it needs to prevent the small scale miners from working in the tailings because of the presence of potentially harmful chemicals.

I asked Friends of the Earth representative Torry Kuswardono if this wasn't reasonable.

Kuswardono: Yes, this is quite reasonable for Freeport, but quite un reasonable for poor people who are living in the round mining. Because for years, Freeport didn't bring any change to the betterment of life of local people around the Freeport area.

Snowdon: So your saying the small miners have no choice, this is their only form of livelihood?

Kuswardono: Yes.

Snowdon: But is it dangerous?

Kuswardono: It is dangerous, but for poor people they don't care about the dangers if they can get some money to survive. Local people they don't have skills to compete with the modern economics with the cash economy, and Freeport failed to improve their situation.

Snowdon: Given the danger, Friends of the Earth doesn't support the small miners returning to scavenging for gold. Torry Kuswardono says the current dilemma should be an opportunity for Freeport and the Indonesian government to clean up their economic, social and environmental acts.

Kuswardono: Well, our position is that Freeport has to be made responsible for many things, including financial management, and parliament accountability and also their connections with the military and also they have to be audited on the system how to give responsibility to the people. So it might be good for the people to scavenge in the tailing to seek some gold, but support and the government of Indonesia should do something to maintain a sustainability of livelihood in the area.