Full Resumption of Production at Indonesia's Giant Grasberg Gold and Copper Mine Delayed Until 2027

The Chief Executive Officer of Freeport Indonesia, Tony Wenas, said in an interview on May 20 that the resumption of production at the company's Grasberg gold and copper mine has been slower than expected, due to the wet ore residue from last year's safety incident. Given that the moisture content of the ore is significantly higher than previously estimated, the company is currently obliged to carry out technical modifications to the chute system. As the world's second-largest copper mine and the largest gold mine, the mine had a collapse in September 2025, with about 800,000 tons of wet materials rushing into the mining area, resulting in seven worker deaths.

The production disruption caused by the accident led to restricted copper supply, which in turn pushed up global copper prices. Currently, the mine is operating at only 50% of its normal capacity. The project is majority-controlled by the Indonesian state-owned company and operated by the American Freeport-McMoRan. The company plans to increase its capacity to 65% later in 2026 and to close to full operation in the second half of 2027.

Affected by the delayed resumption of production, the mine's output recovery is experiencing a step increase. Official data shows that the expected production of refined copper at the Grasberg mine for 2026 is 800 million pounds, and gold is 700,000 ounces. With full operation in 2027, the annual production of refined copper is expected to climb to 1.2 billion pounds, and the annual gold production is also expected to reach one million ounces.