Freeport to restore more Grasberg output next year

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) says it plans to restore large-scale production at Indonesia’s Grasberg mine from next year’s second quarter after a mudslide killed seven workers in September. 

Grasberg’s Block Cave underground mine was hit by 800,000 tonnes of wet material. Freeport declared force majeure and completed an investigation into the incident, but its details haven’t been released.

Remediation activities are being advanced for a staged restart and ramp-up of the mine after March 31, the U.S. copper mining giant said in a release on Tuesday. Parts of the massive complex weren’t affected. 

“We have incorporated the learnings from the recent tragic incident into our future plans and are implementing several initiatives to address the conditions that led to the incident,” Freeport CEO Kathleen Quirk said in the release.

Producing areas

As previously reported, Freeport has already resumed activities at the Deep Mill Level Zone and Big Gossan underground mines, which it said were not affected by the mud flow. Together with the Block Cave, they form one of the world’s largest copper-gold mine complexes, producing 1.7 billion lb. of copper and 1.4 million oz. of gold annually. The Grasberg district is situated in the remote highlands of the Sudirman Mountains in Central Papua.

Freeport serves as Grasberg’s operator and holds a 49% interest, while the rest is owned by the Indonesia government.

Production forecasts

According to Freeport, Grasberg’s 2026 production will be similar to 2025 at about 1 billion lb. of copper and 900,000 oz. of gold — about 35% lower than its pre-incident estimates following a September revision.

However, the company expects production to rise in the following three years, averaging 1.6 billion lb. of copper and 1.3 million oz. of gold between 2027-2029. The Block Cave mine, which accounts for half of Grasberg’s entire mineral reserves, is set to account for a majority (70%) of that production.

Freeport-McMoRan closed Tuesday’s session 2.6% higher at $40 a share in New York for a market capitalization of $57.4 billion.