ABSTRACT
PT Freeport Indonesia's (PTFI's) project site is located in the Sudirman Mountain range of Papua (formerly Irian Jaya). Papua is the Eastern-most province of Indonesia, which occupies the Western half of the island of New Guinea. PTFI's first underground mine in Indonesia was the GBT Block Cave, which started production in 1980. By 1986 this mine was producing about 15,000 tonnes/day (tpd). In 1987 the underground operation was expanded to incorporate the DOZ Open-Stope Mine, with a total underground tonnage of 21,000 tpd achieved in 1988. In 1996 the IOZ Block Cave Mine started production with an initial tonnage of 10,000 tpd. Final production from the IOZ Mine exceeded 25,000 tpd. Development of the DOZ Block Cave Mine started in 1996, with initial production in 2000. The layout of the block cave deposits, and the associated mine infrastructure are shown in Figure 1.
