Views: 5 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2026-05-25 Origin: Site
PT Freeport Indonesia, an Indonesian freeport company, recently announced that the delayed restoration progress following the disaster has pushed the full resumption of the Grasberg copper mine in Central Papua Province to the beginning of 2028 instead of the previously expected early 2027. This adjustment has further put pressure on the already tight global copper supply outlook and may also have an impact on Indonesia's fiscal revenue.
Tony Wenas, the president of PT Freeport Indonesia, stated in a statement on the 7th that the severe mudslide accident that occurred in 2025 had severely affected the underground mining infrastructure and operation systems, and the repair project was more difficult than expected. Currently, the overall production capacity of the mine is only maintained at approximately 40% to 50%. Although the unaffected areas have been restarted in stages, the full restoration of the core high-grade operation area still requires an additional year of reinforcement and equipment debugging.
Grasberg is long regarded as one of the important global copper and gold production bases, jointly operated by Freeport-McMoRan of the United States and the Indonesian government. It is one of Indonesia's most important mining assets and an important source of government revenue. Its production disruption is considered another major shock to the global copper supply chain in recent years. Previously, several major copper mines around the world have successively experienced operational disruptions, geopolitical issues, and raw material supply problems, which have already put the international copper market in a sensitive state.
This news has led to a rise in copper prices both domestically and internationally. After the opening of the morning session on the 8th, the futures price of copper on the Shanghai Futures Exchange quickly turned from a decline to an increase, and it reached a high point above the two-month mark during the trading session; the 3-month futures price of copper on the London Metal Exchange rose by nearly 2%, reaching above $13,600 per ton since the beginning of February this year.
It is worth noting that driven by the expectation of supply tightness, the global copper price center has generally risen in recent years. After the outbreak of the US-Iraq war, due to the pressure on the global economic outlook, copper prices fell along with risk assets such as the stock market, and gradually recovered the previous losses in late March. In addition, the tight supply of key smelting raw materials such as sulfuric acid and fluctuations in energy costs are becoming new variables affecting the operating rate of copper smelting enterprises and the supply of refined copper.
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