Freeport Indonesia delays full production resume until 2028.

Freeport Indonesia has adjusted its "production recovery" -schedule for the Grasberg Block Cave underground copper mine (GBC), a spokesperson said on Friday. The mine is now expected to resume full operation in 2028.

In a press release, Katri Krisnati, Freeport Indonesia's spokesperson stated that the adjustment was due to additional work done on the logistics and ore-handling infrastructure at the mine underground following the September incident.

Grasberg’s operations were severely affected by a severe mudflow in September last year. CEO Tony Wenas stated that the mine was expected to only return to full production around 2027.

The statement on Friday followed a 'press release dated on Thursday, which stated that Freeport-McMoRan has pushed back the restart of Grasberg by a full year and is now aiming to return to full production in early 2028.

The GBC underground mining incident has caused a recovery phase in which production is currently between 40 and 50 percent. According to the press release, Tony Wenas, chief executive of the company, aims for a return to full production by early 2028.

The company stated that the weather conditions were worse than expected and required modifications to be made to the ore transport system and the supporting facilities in order for the?operations to remain safe.

Freeport said that the delay was due to changes they were making to equipment used to load ore on trains. This came after ore underground became more wet following the mine's September shutdown.

Krisnati stated that production at the 'unaffected sections' of the GBC underground mining was partially restarted by April 2026. Reporting by Ananya Palyekar in Bengaluru and Dewi Kurniawati, Jakarta; editing by Sherry Jacobi-Phillips & David Stanway

(source: Reuters)