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Freeport-McMoRan temporarily suspends Grasberg copper-gold operations due to rainfall and landslides

Kitco Media
By Vladimir Basov
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(Kitco News) - Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) announced yesterday that PT Freeport Indonesia's (PT-FI) Grasberg operations have been temporarily disrupted because of significant rainfall and landslides in the area of its milling operations in Papua, Indonesia.

The company said that intense rains on Saturday February 11, 2023, resulted in flooding and a flow of debris, causing damage to infrastructure near its milling complex, adding that personnel were safely evacuated from the localized area.

The company noted that 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 PT-FI's long term plans," Freeport-McMoRan said in a statement.

PT-FI's daily production approximates nearly 5 million pounds of copper and 5,000 ounces 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 pounds of copper and 300 thousand ounces of gold," the company said.

The Grasberg minerals district includes open-pit and underground mines. PT-FI commenced mining operations in 1972 and in 1988 discovered the Grasberg mine. Today, after significant production, the Grasberg mining district contains one of the world's largest recoverable copper reserve and the largest gold reserve.

FCX is a leading international mining company with headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona. FCX operates large, long-lived, geographically diverse assets with significant proven and probable reserves of copper, gold and molybdenum. FCX is one of the world's largest publicly traded copper producers.

The company's portfolio of assets includes the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia, one of the world's largest copper and gold deposits; and significant mining operations in North America and South America, including the large-scale Morenci minerals district in Arizona and the Cerro Verde operation in Peru.

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Kitco Media

Vladimir Basov

Vladimir (PhD, MEng in Mining) is a professional mining engineer, scientist and analyst that has more than 20 years of practical in-field and research experience. He is particularly interested in collecting, processing baseline data and writing insightful data-driven mining industry analytics, articles, statistical and research reports.

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