Grasberg mine Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
The largest goldmine in the world and the third largest copper mine in the world. Owned by Freeport. Located in Papua in Indonesia. The cost of building a mine on a mountain was $3 bn.Dutch geologist Jean-Jacquez Dozy (b. 1909) visited Indonesia in 1936 to scale Jayawijaya Mountain glacier in the Irian Jaya province (western Papua). He made notes on a peculiar black rock with greenish coloring. In 1939, he filed a report about the Ertsberg (Dutch for "ore mountain"). WW2 made the report ignored. 20 years later, geologist Forbes Wilson working for Freeport mining company, read the report. He was searching for nickel deposits, but forgot them as soon as he read the report. He dropped smoking, exercised and went for a trip to explore the Ertsberg. The expedition led by Forbes Wilson and Del Flint discovered huge copper deposits at the Ertsberg in 1960. With permission from the Indonesian government, a great Ertsberg mine was built 4500 m above the sea level. It opened in 1973 (Ertsberg East, 1981). Steep tramway were used to transport equipment and people. Ore is dropped 600 meters, then ground into poweder, then mixed with water to form a sludge. That sludge goes down through pipes to the mine's port. After smelting, 1 ton of ore yields 317kg of copper, 30g of gold and 30g of silver. By mid-1980s, the mine has been largely depleted. Luckily, CEO Moffet of Freeport did not give it up (at $75 million). Instead he sent geologists for further search. Soon Freeport owned $40 bn deposits at Grasberg (3 km away) discovered in 1988. The winding road to Grasberg was estimated to require $12-15 million to be built. An Indonisian road-builder who contributed to Ertsberg road, took a bulldozer and drove it downhill sketching the path. The road cost $2 million in the end. Fiberoptics undermine profitability nowadays as copper prices dropped (historically lowest in 2000).
Mine history:
http://www.fcx.com/aboutus/briefhis.htm
Mine diagram:
http://www.fcx.com/aboutus/grascomp.htm
Freeport against the natives and the environment:
http://www.mpi.org.au/indon/eng_moving_mountains.html
Freeport named one of 10 worst companies of 1996:
http://web.archive.org/web/20011026162140/www.geocities.com/RainForest/1387/tenworst.html
Mine's satellite image:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=16650 This is an Article on Grasberg mine. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Grasberg mine External links