mine · Indonesia

Grasberg

A giant copper-gold complex transitioning from open pit to large-scale block cave mining.

OperatingProductionProject score 85

Operator

Freeport-McMoRan

Country

Indonesia

Mine life

20 yrs

Capex

—

Profile

Resource, economics and jurisdiction

Resource: One of the largest combined copper and gold resources ever discovered.
Production: Roughly 750 kt copper and significant gold output annually.
Economics: Exceptional by-product gold credits support very low net copper cost.
Infrastructure: Integrated smelter at Gresik, aerial tramways and dedicated power.
Jurisdiction: Moderate risk
Ownership: Freeport 48.8%, MIND ID 51.2%
Region: Papua

Overview

A giant copper-gold complex transitioning from open pit to large-scale block cave mining.

Methodology

Version v0.1

Resource Quality: 92 (weight 1.2) — Grade, continuity and metallurgical complexity of the resource.
Project Scale: 93 (weight 1) — Annual output potential relative to the global market for its primary mineral.
Development Stage: 80 (weight 0.9) — How far the asset has advanced toward or through production.
Jurisdiction: 85 (weight 1.1) — Political stability, permitting predictability and rule of law.
Infrastructure: 83 (weight 0.9) — Access to power, water, transport and processing capacity.
Economics: 82 (weight 1.2) — Cost position and margin resilience through the price cycle.
Strategic Importance: 94 (weight 1) — Relevance to national critical mineral strategies and allied supply chains.
Supply-Chain Value: 88 (weight 1) — Whether the asset relieves a genuine downstream bottleneck.
Sustainability: 83 (weight 0.9) — Carbon intensity, water use, tailings approach and community standing.
Execution Risk: 81 (weight 1) — Technical, financing and schedule risk to reaching nameplate output. Higher is lower risk.

Materials

Copper is the primary conductor of the electrified economy, used wherever electricity or heat must move efficiently.

Assets

The largest underground copper mine in the world, in operation for over a century.

The largest copper mine in the world by output, operating in the Atacama Desert since 1990.

A large copper-gold development in the Vicuna district of the high Andes.

The highest-grade major copper mine in the world, powered largely by hydroelectricity.

A very large copper-cobalt operation whose output decisions move the global cobalt market.

A vast Arctic nickel-copper-palladium complex and the largest palladium source globally.