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Freeport Indonesia claims that wet ore is slowing Grasberg's recovery and the full ramp-up will be completed in 2027

The recovery process of PT Freeport Indonesia’s Grasberg copper and gold mine has taken longer than expected. However, the company anticipates that?operations will "approach" their full capacity by the end of 2027.

In September of last year, seven workers died when 800,000 metric tonnes of wet material flooded Grasberg Block Cave. The Grasberg Complex is the second largest copper mine in the world and the largest gold mine.

Global copper prices rose due to a disruption in production caused by the?mine.

Freeport Indonesia CEO Tony Wenas stated in an interview with the company's headquarters in Jakarta that "we found out that the GBC and the ore, now because of the incident, have more water... "since the ore will be much wetter than we thought, it is necessary to modify the chute."

He said that the complex is currently operating at only 50% of its normal capacity. This will be increased to 65% later this year.

Wenas stated that the copper cathode production in 2027 is expected to be approximately 1.2 billion pounds and gold at one million ounces.

This is up from the original?2026 estimate of 800 million pounds copper cathode, and 700 000 ounces gold.

(source: Reuters)