Freeport Indonesia adjusts Grasberg production recovery, full resumption delayed until 2028

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JAKARTA, May 8 : Freeport Indonesia has adjusted the "production recovery" schedule at its Grasberg Block Cave (GBC) underground copper mine, a company spokesperson told Reuters on Friday, with the mine now set to resume full operations in 2028.

"Adjustment to the GBC production recovery target was made due to additional work on logistics and ore handling infrastructure at the underground mine following the incident last September," Katri Krisnati, a Freeport Indonesia spokesperson said in a statement.

Grasberg's operations were hit by a severe mudflow last September, after which CEO Tony Wenas said the mine was only expected to return to full production by 2027.

The Friday statement came after a press release dated Thursday saying that Freeport-McMoRan had pushed back the restart of the Grasberg mine by a year, and was now targeting a return to full production by early 2028.

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"Operations are currently in the recovery phase following the GBC underground mine incident, with production currently at around 40 per cent to 50 per cent. The company targets a return to full capacity by early 2028," the press release cited chief executive Tony Wenas as saying.

Wetter-than-expected material conditions required modifications to the ore transportation system and supporting facilities to ensure operations remained safe, the company said.

The delay is linked to changes Freeport is making to equipment used to load ore onto trains, the company said in April, after underground ore became wetter due to groundwater infiltration following the mine's shutdown in September.

Production at the unaffected sections of the GBC underground mine was partially restarted in April 2026, Krisnati said.

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