ABSTRACT

PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) is mining copper and gold deposits in the province of Papua, Indonesia in one of the world’s most geographically remote and challenging locations as given by Figure 1. PTFI is

currently producing about 200,000 tonnes of ore per day (tpd) from the Grasberg Open Pit and about 50,000 tpd from the Deep Ore Zone (DOZ) Block Cave. On completion of the Grasberg Pit (currently scheduled for 2015), it is anticipated that about 200,000 tons per day will be produced from new underground mines in the district with reserves of 1151 million tonnes of ore and an expected life of 33 years.