An Indonesian nickel miner controlled by Canada?s Inco Ltd is relocating foreign workers following a security warning, a company spokesman said yesterday.

PT International Nickel Indonesia Tbk (PT Inco) is moving the workers and their families to Jakarta from the mine?s site in Soroako, some 1,700 km (1,050 miles) northeast of the capital.

A recent travel warning concerning Indonesia from the Canadian embassy cited security threats to vital projects, including the mine, PT Inco spokesman Edi Suhardi said.

Suhardi said most employees were Indonesian and declined to say how many expatriate workers had left the site. ?I can?t yet disclose the number because it hasn?t been clarified. Basically, we do encourage family and children to leave the site. But there is no panic here,? he said by telephone from Soroako, in the south of Sulawesi island.

?Meanwhile, production is running as usual,? Suhardi said. ?In the short term, there is no significant impact. We are still assessing the longer term (impact).?

Indonesia, home to the world?s most populous Muslim nation, has been hit by a spate of deadly bombings by militants in recent years.

The Australian government on Sunday warned its citizens to avoid travelling to Indonesia for security reasons.

Soroako has been largely spared from violence, but the mine is near the town of Poso, where 2,000 people were killed in three years of clashes between Muslims and Christians before a peace deal late in 2001. Poso has been relatively calm in recent months.

PT Inco is forecast this year to produce about a third of the Canadian parent?s nickel, estimated at a record 160 million lb (227,000 tonnes), at its integrated mining and processing facilities on Sulawesi. Inco shares were nearly one percent higher at 32,300 rupiah at 0557 GMT on the Jakarta stock exchange. The broader market was up 0.55 percent. ($1=9,275 rupiah).