Freeport Indonesia delays full copper mine restart

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View all search resultsThe already constrained global copper market is likely to worsen on the miner’s decision to postpone resuming full operations at the Grasberg mine by a year, primarily because its key underground mine is yet to recover from last September’s fatal landslide, according to its president director.

T Freeport Indonesia has delayed by a year the full restart of its Grasberg copper mine in Mimika regency, Central Papua, a move that is expected to worsen supply constraints already impacting the metal’s global market.

The copper and gold producer is operating at just 40 to 50 percent of normal capacity as it continues to recover from last year’s fatal landslide in an underground mine, and is not expected to reach 100 percent output until early 2028.

Freeport Indonesia president director Tony Wenas said the Grasberg Block Cave (GBC) was still in a recovery phase following the disaster that killed seven workers on Sept. 8, 2025, when approximately 800,000 tonnes of wet material surged through the mine and prompted a halt to all operations.

“The company remains committed to transparency and accountability in meeting its obligations to the state and regional governments,” Tony said in a statement on Thursday.

Copper prices surged to a record high in January amid a wave of speculative buying before consolidating at historically high levels. Traders are now turning their focus to the possibility of further supply constraints stemming from a shortage of sulfuric acid, a key reagent in copper ore processing.

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