Freeport Indonesia suspends some work at Grasberg mine after floods

Copper miner Freeport Indonesia has temporarily halted mining and processing work at its Grasberg mine after flooding and debris flow from heavy rains and landslides damaged its milling complex, Freeport-McMoRan Inc said on Sunday evening.

Freeport-McMoRan said it expected first-quarter 2023 sales to be lower than the previous outlook provided in January for 900 million pounds of copper and 300,000 ounces of gold, but it did not provide updated figures.

Freeport Indonesia’s daily output was nearly 5 million pounds of copper and 5,000 ounces of gold, the company said late on Monday.

Preliminary estimates indicate operations can be restored by the end of February, the company said, adding that there was no impact to PT Freeport Indonesia’s long-term plans.

The company said it had freed 14 employees trapped in an office building because of the flood, but added there were no casualties in the recovery effort launched on Saturday.

“Some of the concentrate processing plant had mudflow and several sections of the mine road were damaged,” Freeport Indonesia Chief Executive Tony Wenas said in a statement on Sunday, adding that the situation was under control.

(By Bernadette Christina and Gokul Pisharody; Editing by William Mallard, Clarence Fernandez, Jamie Freed and Shounak Dasgupta)