PHOENIX: Copper miner Freeport-McMoRan said on Tuesday it plans to restore large-scale production at Indonesia’s Grasberg minerals district from the second quarter of 2026, following a fatal incident that forced operations to halt earlier this year.
Seven workers were killed when around 800,000 tonnes of wet material flooded the Grasberg Block Cave, one of the mines at the complex, on Sept 8.
Under the phased plan, Freeport expects PT Freeport Indonesia’s combined copper and gold output in 2026 to be roughly in line with 2025 levels, at about 1 billion pounds of copper and 0.9 million ounces of gold.
The company said it expects production to increase through 2026 and 2027, with average annual volumes of around 1.6 billion pounds of copper and 1.3 million ounces of gold expected for 2027-2029.