Freeport Indonesia says investigation concluded on Grasberg incident
Freeport Indonesia said on Friday that an investigation into a mud flow that killed seven workers at its Grasberg copper and gold mine has ended and the company has received improvement recommendations from the government.
Shortly before the company's statement, deputy mining minister Yuliot Tanjung had told reporters the ministry was evaluating the incident, including whether negligence or any regulatory violations were factors in the disaster, before deciding if operations could resume.
Seven workers were killed when around 800,000 metric tons of wet material flooded the Grasberg Block Cave (GBC), one of the mines at the complex, on September 8.
"PT Freeport Indonesia has received recommendations for improvement from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and is currently following up on all of these recommendations," spokesperson Katri Krisnati said in a statement, without providing details of the recommendations.
In October, parent Freeport-McMoRan had said an investigation "involving external experts and Indonesian authorities" was underway.
It was not immediately clear whether the ministry's evaluation was separate from the investigation conducted by Freeport.
The ministry wanted to determine the cause of the deadly incident, Yuliot said, adding that Freeport would be allowed to resume operations if it was considered safe to do so.
"If, based on our evaluation, activities are deemed safe to proceed, we will permit it," he said, adding the review would distinguish between areas of the Grasberg complex that were affected by the mud flow and areas that were unaffected.
Freeport-McMoRan has said Big Gossan mine and Deep Mill Level Zone mine at Grasberg could potentially be restarted during the fourth quarter, as they were unaffected by the mud flow, with a phased restart of GBC expected during 2026.
The GBC represents around 70% of Freeport Indonesia's previously estimated copper and gold output through 2029.
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