Jakarta, Indonesia Sentinel — Freeport-McMoRan (FCX.N) declared force majeure at its Grasberg mine in Papua, Indonesia, on Wednesday, following a deadly landslide that has halted operations at one of the world’s largest copper and gold deposits.
According to Reuters, the company warning that third-quarter consolidated sales of copper and gold would fall short of earlier projections. The shares of Freeport plunged 10.4% following the announcement.
Mining at the Grasberg Block Cave underground site has been suspended since a September 8 landslide sent torrents of wet material into the mine, blocking access tunnels and trapping seven workers underground.
Freeport said it redirected all resources toward rescue efforts, but only two workers have so far been recovered, both deceased, while five remain missing.
The company now expects mining operations to resume gradually in the first half of 2026, with output in that year projected to fall about 35% below prior estimates.
The disruption sent benchmark copper prices on the London Metal Exchange up more than 3% on Wednesday, hitting a 15-month high. Analysts said the outage would tighten global supply, potentially benefiting Freeport’s U.S. operations.
Freeport estimates its third-quarter copper and gold sales will come in 4% and 6% lower, respectively, compared with earlier forecasts of 1 billion pounds of copper and 350,000 ounces of gold.
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Goldman Sachs cut its global copper mine supply outlook for 2025 and 2026 in response to the Grasberg shutdown, noting the mine is the world’s second-largest copper producer. The bank now projects global output losses of 525,000 tons, reducing supply by 160,000 tons in the second half of 2025 and 200,000 tons in 2026.
Grasberg’s 2025 production is also forecast to drop by 250,000–260,000 tons of copper, with a further 270,000-ton decline expected in 2026.
As a result, Goldman trimmed global mine production growth forecasts to just 0.2% in 2025, down from 0.8%, and to 1.9% in 2026, from 2.2%. The bank now expects the global copper market to swing from a surplus of 105,000 tons in 2025 to a deficit of 55,500 tons, before returning to a slight surplus in 2026.
(Raidi/Agung)
