Freeport expects lower copper and gold sales after declaring force majeure in Grasberg

Freeport-McMoRan declared force majeure on Wednesday at its Grasberg Mine in Indonesia. It also said that it expects consolidated sales for copper and gold to be lower in the third quarter. This sent its shares down by 10%.

Earlier this week, the company temporarily halted its mining operations at Grasberg, after a large amount of wet materials blocked access to certain parts of underground mine and restricted evacuation routes for seven employees.

Freeport last weekend

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Two team members were killed in the incident.

The company announced that operations at Grasberg - one of the largest gold and cobalt mines in the world - would not resume before the first half 2026.

The company also said that production in 2026 at its Indonesian plant could be 35% less than the previous estimate.

The company was building a smelter which was damaged in an fire last year. It was closed down.

Copper prices

Following the announcement made by Freeport, the London Metal Exchange saw a jump of more than 3% on Wednesday. This was the highest level in over 15 months.

The company expects its third-quarter sales of copper and gold to be down by about 4% or 6% compared to the previous forecast of 350 thousand ounces and 1 billion pounds respectively. (Reporting and editing by Anil D’Silva in Bengaluru, Maju Samuel, and Pooja Menon)

(source: Reuters)