Freeport Suspends Production at Grasberg


Operations at the Grasberg mine in Papua New Guinea were impacted by heavy rains during February.
(Photo: Freeport-McMoRan)
Freeport-McMoRan said production at PT Freeport Indonesia’s (PT-FI) Grasberg operations has been temporarily disrupted because of significant rainfall and landslides in the area of its milling operations in Papua, Indonesia. Intense rains on Saturday February 11, 2023, resulted in flooding and a flow of debris, causing damage to infrastructure near its milling complex. Personnel were safely evacuated from the localized area.

PT-FI is conducting a damage assessment and preparing a recovery plan to resume operations. Preliminary estimates, which are subject to change as assessments are completed, indicate operations can be restored by the end of February 2023. There is no impact to PTFI’s long term plans.

PT-FI produces nearly 5 million lb/day of copper and 5,000 oz/day of gold. As a result of the disruption, FCX expects its first-quarter 2023 sales to be lower than the guidance provided on January 25, 2023, of 900 million lb of copper and 300,000 oz of gold.

As featured in Womp 2023 Vol 03 - www.womp-int.com