Grasberg Minerals District

Description: The Grasberg minerals district includes open pit and underground mines.
Did You Know? PT Freeport Indonesia commenced mining operations in 1972 and in 1988 discovered
the Grasberg mine. Today, after significant production, the Grasberg mining district contains one of the
worlds largest recoverable copper reserve and the largest gold reserve.
We have several projects in progress in the Grasberg minerals district, primarily related to the
development of the large-scale, high-grade underground ore bodies located beneath and nearby the
Grasberg open pit. In aggregate, these underground ore bodies are expected to ramp up over several
years to approximately 240,000 metric tons of ore per day following the anticipated transition from the
Grasberg open pit in 2017. Development of the Deep Mill Level Zone (DMLZ) is advancing. The DMLZ is
expected to commence production in 2015 and the Grasberg Block Cave mine is scheduled to
commence production in 2017. In addition to these near-term development projects, we also have an
additional long-term underground mine development project for the Kucing Liar ore body, which lies on
the southern flank of and underneath the southern portion of the Grasberg open pit.
Location: The remote highlands of the Sudirman Mountain Range in the province of Papua, Indonesia,
which is on the western half of the island of New Guinea.
Ownership: 90.64% FCX (including 9.36% owned through our wholly owned subsidiary, PT Indocopper
Investama); 9.36% the Government of Indonesia.
Mines, Processes and Facilities: The Grasberg minerals district currently has three mines in operation:
the Grasberg open pit, the Deep Ore Zone (DOZ) underground mine and the Big Gossan underground
mine.

Grasberg open pit. We began open-pit mining of the Grasberg ore body in 1990. Open-pit operations
are expected to continue through 2016.
Crushing and conveying systems are integral to the mine and provide the capacity to transport up to
250,000 metric tons of ore per day (mtd) to the mill and 150,000 mtd of overburden to the overburden
stockpiles.

DOZ underground mine. The DOZ ore body lies vertically below the now depleted Intermediate Ore
Zone. We began production from the DOZ ore body in 1989 using open stope mining methods, but
suspended production in 1991 in favor of production from the Grasberg open pit. Production resumed in
September 2000 and is expected to continue through 2019.
Using ore passes and chutes, load-haul-dump units transfer ore into haul trucks. The trucks dump into
two gyratory crushers and the ore is then conveyed to the surface stockpiles.
The success of the development of the DOZ, one of the worlds largest underground mines, provides
confidence in the future development of PT Freeport Indonesias large-scale undeveloped underground
ore bodies.
Big Gossan underground mine. The Big Gossan mine lies underground and adjacent to the current
mill site. It is a tabular, near-vertical ore body. Production from the Big Gossan mine began in fourth-
quarter 2010 and is designed to ramp up to 7,000 mtd by 2014.
The Big Gossan mine utilizes a blasthole stoping method with delayed paste backfill. Stopes of varying
sizes are mined and the ore dropped down passes to a truck haulage level. Trucks are chute loaded and
transport the ore to a jaw crusher. The crushed ore is then hoisted vertically to a level where it is loaded
onto a conveyor belt. The belt carries the ore to one of the main underground conveyors where it is
transferred and carried to the surface mill stockpile for processing.

Description of Ore Bodies: The ore bodies are located within and around two main igneous intrusions,
the Grasberg monzodiorite and the Ertsberg diorite. The host rocks of these ore bodies include both
carbonate and clastic rocks that form the ridge crests and upper flanks of the Sudirman Mountain Range,
and the igneous rocks of monzonitic to dioritic composition that intrude them. The igneous-hosted ore
bodies (the Grasberg open pit and block cave, and portions of the DOZ block cave) occur as vein
stockworks and disseminations of copper sulphides, dominated by chalcopyrite and, to a much lesser
extent, bornite. The sedimentary-rock hosted ore bodies (portions of the DOZ and all of Big Gossan)
occur as magnetite-rich, calcium/magnesian skarn replacements, whose location and orientation are
strongly influenced by major faults and by the chemistry of the carbonate rocks along the margins of the
intrusions.

The copper mineralization in these skarn deposits is dominated by chalcopyrite, but higher bornite
concentrations are common. Moreover, gold occurs in significant concentrations in all of the districts ore
bodies. These gold concentrations usually occur as inclusions within the copper sulphide minerals,
though, in some deposits, these concentrations can also be strongly associated with pyrite.

The Grasberg complex shown below illustrates the layout of the Grasberg/ Ertsberg minerals district
reserves. The western side of the district is dominated by the Grasberg, with its massive open pit (final
design shown) and block cave mineable reserves, and the Kucing Liar and Big Gossan ore bodies. The
eastern side of the district is dominated by the Ertsberg East ore bodies, the DOZ and the DMLZ. The
underground production and exploration access to these ore bodies is shown.



Grasberg mine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the German municipality, see Grasberg.
Grasberg mine

Grasberg mine open pit.
Location


Grasberg mine
Location in Indonesia
Province Papua
Country Indonesia
Coordinates
4310S 137657ECoordinates:
4310S 137657E
Production
Products Copper
Gold
Production 610,800 tonnes copper
58,474,392 grams gold
174,458,971 grams silver
Financial 2006
year
Owner
Company Freeport-McMoRan
The Grasberg Mine is the largest gold mine and the third largest copper minein the world. It is
located in the province of Papua in Indonesia near Puncak Jaya, the highest mountain in Papua, and
it has 19,500 employees. It is mostly owned by Freeport-McMoRan, which owns 90.64% of PT
Freeport Indonesia, the principal operating subsidiary in Indonesia, including 9.36% owned through
its wholly owned subsidiary, PT Indocopper Investama. The Government of Indonesia owns the
remaining 9.36% of PT Freeport Indonesia. FCX operates under an agreement with the Government
of Indonesia, which allows Freeport to conduct exploration, mining and production activities in a
24,700-acre area (Block A). It also conducts exploration activities in an approximate 500,000-acre
area (Block B). All of Freeport's proven and probable mineral reserves and current mining operations
are located in Block A.
[1]
The 2006 production was 610,800 tonnes of copper; 58,474,392 grams of
gold; and 174,458,971 grams of silver.
[2]

Contents
[hide]
1 History
2 Mine workings
3 Environment
o 3.1 Environmental damage
4 Attacks on the mine
5 Accidents and incidents
6 Strike
7 References
8 External links
History[edit]
In 1936, Dutch geologist Jean Jacques Dozy was a member of an expedition that scaled Mount
Carstensz, the highest mountain in the Dutch East Indies. While there, he made notes of a peculiar
black rock with greenish coloring, and spent several weeks estimating the extent of
the gold and copper deposits. In 1939, he filed a report about the Ertsberg (Dutch for "ore
mountain"). He was working for Nederlandsche Nieuw Guinea Petroleum Maatschappij (NNGPM),
an exploration company formed by Shell in 1935, with 40% Standard Vacuum Oil (Mobil) interest
and 20% Far Pacific investments (Chevron subsidiary).
In March 1959 the New York Times published an article revealing the Dutch were searching for the
mountain source of alluvial gold which had been flowing into the Arafura Sea. Geologist Forbes
Wilson, working for the Freeport mining company in August 1959 after reading Dozy's 1936 report,
immediately prepared to explore the Ertsberg site. In 1960 the expedition, led by Forbes Wilson
and Del Flint, confirmed the huge copper deposits at the Ertsberg. It was financed byFreeport
Sulphur, whose directors included Godfrey Rockefeller, Texaco chairman Augustus Long,
and Robert Lovett.
In 1963, Dutch New Guinea was transferred to Indonesia, and the mine was the first under the
new Suharto administration's (see New Order) 1967 foreign investment laws intended to attract
foreign investment to Indonesia's then ruined economy. Built at 4,100 metres (14,000 ft) above sea
level in one of West Papua's most remote areas, it involved a capital and technology input well
beyond Indonesia's resources at the time. Construction cost was $US175 million, $US55 million
above the original budget.
[3]
A 116 km road and pipeline, port, airstrip, power plant and a new town
called "Tembagapura" (literally:copper town) were built. It officially opened in 1973 (although the first
ore shipment was in December 1972), and was expanded by Ertsberg East, which opened in 1981.
Steep aerial tramways are used to transport equipment and people. Ore is dropped 600 metres
(2,000 ft) from the mine, concentrated and mixed with water to form a 60:40 slurry. The slurry is then
pumped through a 166 km pipeline through mountains, jungle and swamp to the port at Amamapare,
dried and shipped. Each tonne of dry concentrate contains 317 kilograms of copper, 30 grams of
gold and 30 grams of silver.
In 1977 the rebel group Free Papua Movement attacked the mine. The group dynamited the main
slurry pipe, which caused tens of millions of dollars in damage, and attacked the mine facilities. The
Indonesian military reacted harshly, killing at least 800 people.
[4]

By the mid-1980s, the original mine had been largely depleted. Freeport explored for other deposits
in the area. In 1988, Freeport identified reserves valued at $40 billion at Grasberg (Dutch, "Grass
Mountain"), just 3 kilometres (1.9 miles) from the Ertsberg mine. The winding road to Grasberg, the
H.E.A.T. (Heavy Equipment Access Trail), was estimated to require $12 million to $15 million to be
built. An Indonesian road-builder who had contributed to the Ertsberg road took a bulldozerand
drove it downhill sketching the path. The road cost just $2 million when completed.
The 20032006 boom in copper prices increased the profitability of the mine. The extra consumption
of copper for Asian electrical infrastructure overwhelmed copper supply and caused prices to
increase from around $1500/ton to $8100/ton ($0.70/lb to $4.00/lb).
Mine workings[edit]


The Grasberg Mine complex from space. Puncak Jaya is the high point of the snow-covered ridge to the east of the
mine. The peak is at 4,884 metres (16,024 ft) above sea level. The rim of the open pit is at about 4,270 metres
(14,010 ft).
The workings include a very large open pit mine, anunderground mine and four concentrators. The
open pit mine which forms a mile-wide crater at the surface is a high-volume, low-cost operation,
producing more than 67 million tonnes of ore and providing over 75% of the mill feed in 2006.
Ore undergoes primary crushing at the mine, before being delivered by ore passes to the mill
complex for further crushing, grinding and flotation. Grasbergs milling and concentrating complex is
the largest in the world, with four crushers and two giant semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) units
processing a daily average of 240,000 metric tonnes of ore in 2006.
A flotation reagent is used to separate a copper-goldconcentrate from the ore. Slurry containing the
copper-gold concentrate is delivered by three pipelines to the seaport of Amamapare, over 70 miles
away, where it is dewatered. Once filtered and dried, the concentrate containing copper, gold and
silver is shipped to smelters around the world.
The facilities at the port also include a coal-fired power station, which supplies the Grasberg
operations.
[5]

Environment[edit]


Freeport's Contract of Work Area. Deep purple in the river is mine tailings (2003).
The concentrator's tailings, generated at a rate of 230,000 tonnes per day, are the subject of
considerable environmental concern, as they wash into the Aikwa riverine system and Arafura Sea.
Some 130 square kilometres (50 sq mi) (eventually 230 square kilometres (89 sq mi))
[6]
of lowland
areas along the Aikwa River, are covered by braided sedimentary channels indicative of high
sediment load (similar to glacial runoff). Native fish have nearly disappeared from now-turbid waters
of the Aikwa River. The overburden (700 kt/d)
[7]
remains in the highlands, up to 480 m deep and
covering 8 square kilometres (3 sq mi). Its acidic runoff, dissolved copper, and the finer material gets
washed into the headwaters of the Wanagon River. It settles out along the river course and then into
the ocean, and will continue to do so indefinitely. Freeport's official response is that overburden is
placed in the highlands as part of its Overburden Management Plan, at "sites capped
with limestone and constantly monitored. Tailings are transported to the lowlands in a designated
river system. Once reaching the lowlands, they are captured in an engineered system of levees built
for that purpose." Freeport states that its discharges meet regulatory requirements.
In 1995, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) revoked Freeport's insurance policy
for environmental violations of a sort that would not be allowed in the US. It was the first action of
this sort by OPIC, and Freeport responded with a lawsuit against them. Freeport states that this
revocation was based on a misunderstanding, the result of a single 1994 visit to Grasberg; the
company later underwent an independent environmental audit byDames & Moore, and passed. In
April 1996, Freeport canceled its policy with the OPIC, stating that their corporate activities had
outgrown the policy's limits. However, the OPIC report was later publicly released
[8]

Environmental damage[edit]
The mine is located within what used to be a small equatorial mountainglacier.
[9][not in citation
given]
Steepening of slopes related to mining activities, as well asearthquakes and frequent
heavy rainfall, have resulted in landslides within the open pit mine.
[citation needed]

While landscape reclamation projects have begun at the mine, environmental groups and local
citizens
[who?]
are concerned with the potential for copper contamination and acid mine drainage from
the mine tailings into surrounding river systems, land surfaces, and groundwater. Freeport argues
that its actions meet industry standards, and have been approved by the requisite authorities.
[citation
needed]

Both Freeport and its partner Rio Tinto have been excluded from the investment portfolio of The
Government Pension Fund of Norway, the world's second-largest pension fund, due to criticism over
the environmental damages caused by the Grasberg mine. Stocks at a value of ca. US$ 870 million
were divested from the fund as a result of the decisions.
[10][11]

Attacks on the mine[edit]
Violent ambushes near the Grasberg mine have occurred as early as August 2002, when three
contract school teachers were killed. Kopassus, the Indonesian Special Forces, allegedly instigated
the incident.
[12][13]

A series of attacks started on 11 July 2009, and continued for more than five days. A Freeport
employee, 29-year-old Australian Drew Grant was shot and killed while sitting in the back of a car on
the way to a game of golf. Indonesian police indicated that Grant was killed by five shots he
sustained to the neck, chest and stomach by unknown assailants using military-issue weapons. The
attack also killed Freeport security guard Markus Ratealo and a number of police officers.
[13][14]

On 7 April 2011, two Freeport employees were killed when the company car they were traveling in
caught fire. Bullets were found inside the car, giving weight to the suspicion that the car was fired on
by unknown gunmen. This incident sparked a protest by hundreds of Freeport employees concerned
about the security along the jungle road leading up to the mine.
[15][16]

The Grasberg mine has been a frequent source of friction in Papua. Possible causes of friction are
the mine's environmental impact on Papua, the perceived low share of profits going to local Papuans
(Freeport's annual report shows it made $4.1billion in operating profit on revenue of $6.4billion in
2010) and the questionable legality of the payments made to Indonesian security forces for their
services to guard the site.
[15]

Papua is also the home of Free Papua Movement, a revolutionary organisation whose purpose is to
overthrow the current government of Papua and West Papua. The organisation has been blamed for
some of the attacks that have happened near the mine.
[15]

Accidents and incidents[edit]
On May 14, 2013, a training tunnel collapsed trapping at least 33 workers underground. A mine
official at the mine said three workers were killed, but the main office in Arizona said there were no
fatalities.
[17]
As of 20 May, 10 miners were rescued and 14 bodies were recovered bringing the total
deaths to 17. Eleven other men are believed to be buried under the rubble.
[18]

Strike[edit]
In July 2011, Papuan copper miners went on strike in support of increasing their wages up from their
rate of about $1.50 an hour. As a result of the industrial action, production at the mine halted for a
week.
[19]

References[edit]
1. "Grasberg Minerals District". Retrieved 2010-10-28.
2. Jump up^ "Grasberg Open Pit Specifications". Mining Technology. Retrieved 2010-07-25.
3. Jump up^ McDonald, Hamish (1980). Suharto's Indonesia. Fontana Books. pp. 81
82. ISBN 978-0-00-635721-6.
4. Jump up^ Figures published by the ABRI/TNI (Indonesian military) others estimate much
higher numbers. John Otto Ondawame, One Voice One Soul, PhD Thesis, Australian National
University, Canberra 1999
5. Jump up^ "Grasberg Open Pit, Indonesia", Mining-Technology.com, 2006, accessed 16 Nov
2009
6. Jump up^ "Mining for the Future. Appendix J: Grasberg Riverine Disposal Case Study". Natural-
resources.org. Retrieved 2010-07-25.
7. Jump up^ http://www.fcx.com/ir/downloads/FCX200610K.pdf
8. Jump up^ "Freeport Environmental Review by Envirosearch International", Austin Chronicle, via
Internet Archive, 23 Sep 2005
9. Jump up^ "Puncak Jaya indonesia Google Maps". Maps.google.com. 1970-01-01. Retrieved
2010-07-25.
10. Jump up^ Norwegian Ministry of Finance (2008-09-09). "The Government Pension Fund divests
its holdings in mining company".
11. Jump up^ Norwegian Ministry of Finance (2006-06-06). "Two companies Wal-Mart and
Freeport are being excluded from the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Globals
investment universe".
12. Jump up^ Shorrock, Tim (10 December 2002). "US and Indonesia's military: Bedfellows
again?". Asia Times. Retrieved 9 April 2011.
13. ^ Jump up to:
a

b
"Police detain 17 suspects in Freeport killings". The Age. 21 July 2009.
Retrieved 9 April 2011.
14. Jump up^ Thompson, Geoff (13 July 2009). "Military, police 'among suspects' in Freeport
killings". ABC. Retrieved 9 April 2011.
15. ^ Jump up to:
a

b

c
"Freeport Workers Protest after Killings". Jakarta Globe. 8 April 2011.
Retrieved 9 April 2011.
16. Jump up^ "Two Freeport Workers Killed in Burning Car". Jakarta Globe. 8 April 2011. Retrieved
9 April 2011.
17. Jump up^ "At least 33 missing after tunnel collapse at Freeport Indonesia mine". Reuters.
Retrieved 14 May 2013.
18. Jump up^ "INDONESIA MINE COLLAPSE DEATH TOLL RISES TO 17". AP. Retrieved 20 May
2013.
19. Jump up^ "Papuan copper miners strike". BBC. 13 July 2011. Retrieved 13 October 2012.