Devastating Effect If Freeport Mine Stops Operating: World Market Shaken!

PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) anticipates potential disruption to global mineral market stability if operations at the Grasberg mine in Papua were to cease.

As one of the world’s mining barometers, the Grasberg mine has always drawn global market attention. As the world’s second-largest copper producer and the largest gold producer, the Grasberg mine managed by PT Freeport Indonesia will have an impact on future commodity price stability.

PTFI President Director Tony Wenas cited last year’s global market turbulence as an example, when a landslide occurred at the Grasberg Block Cave (GBC) underground mine in September 2025.

The incident led to a temporary halt in mining operations. As a result, copper commodity prices on the global market were pushed higher due to a supply shortage from the Freeport mine.

He therefore stressed the importance of certainty regarding the extension of PTFI’s Special Mining Business Permit (IUPK) beyond 2041. This will affect the certainty of future global copper supply.

“So this raises hopes internationally, not only for investors interested in investing directly in PTFI or through Freeport-McMoRan by purchasing its stock and so on. And of course there are also parties with an interest in ensuring whether there will be copper 15 years from now,” he said in Tembagapura, Central Papua, in CNBC Indonesia’s Mining Zone programme, quoted on Friday (21/8/2026).

“Because once we stop production, this will certainly shake the market as well, the world market, when we had the incident in September and we decided to halt all operations to focus on searching for victims who had not yet been found, there was a slight upheaval,” he added.

Furthermore, the economic impact lost if production were to stop is also considered significant, given that PTFI’s contribution to the state is projected to reach Rp 120 trillion per year at full capacity.

In addition, the company views copper as the metal of the future, greatly needed by the world to build renewable energy power plants and manufacture electric vehicles on a scale of millions of units.

“Copper is the metal of the future. Almost the entire world is now racing to find copper because they are also racing to build renewable power plants. Without copper, power plants will not reach consumers,” he concluded.