Freeport targets 2026 restart at Grasberg – ING

Freeport said it plans to restore Copper production at its Grasberg operations in Indonesia drove a rally in Copper prices. A September mudslide led the miner to declare force majeure. It restarted production from two parts of the Copper mine in late October (the Deep Mill Level Zone and Big Gossan) and plans to ramp up at the Grasberg Block Cave underground mine in the second quarter of 2026, ING’s commodity experts Ewa Manthey and Warren Patterson note.

Freeport grasberg restart lifts Copper prices

“Freeport expects Grasberg to produce about one billion pounds of Copper and nearly one million ounces of gold in 2026. That’s roughly 10% lower than what the company estimated in September following the incident. The partial restart at Grasberg will help to ease supply challenges for smelters facing feedstock shortages. Grasberg is the world’s second-largest Copper mine, contributing around 4% of global production.”

“Copper supply has been hit by a wave of disruptions this year. The disruption at Grasberg has added to the already high number of supply problems this year, including flooding at the Kamoa-Kakula mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in May and an accident at the El Teniente mine in Chile in July.”

“Data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that refined Copper output rose 8.9% year on year to 1.204mt in October, primarily driven by stronger ore purchases. In other metals, zinc output rose 15.7% YoY to record highs of 665kt, as smelters benefited from higher fees and improved ore supply, whereas lead production decreased 2.4% YoY to 645kt for the period.”