PT Freeport Indonesia Transitioning to 240,000 tpd from Underground Mining

An Overview
Tim Casten Director - Underground Planning, Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold
Tim Acton Vice President Underground Expansion Projects, PT Freeport Indonesia
Mark Johnson President FM Indonesia, Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold
Abstract
Current ore production at PT Freeport Indonesias Grasberg district is approximately 240,000 metric
tonnes per day. One third of this production is from the Deep Ore Zone (DOZ) caving mine and the
recently initiated Big Gossan stoping mine, with the balance being produced from the Grasberg Open Pit
mine. The open pit is currently scheduled for completion in mid-2016, although alternative dates are
being investigated, and the DOZ mine is scheduled for completion in 2019. This paper will discuss the
plans to replace the current production sources with a series of new large underground caving operations
that will achieve 240,000 tpd by 2021. The paper will discuss the long term plans under execution, the
current progress to date on these plans, future milestones and the risks and issues that could impact the
successful transition from open pit to underground operations over the next ten years. The paper will
address the methods considered to reduce the shortfall in ore production during the transition period and
some of the options under consideration.
Introduction
PT Freeport Indonesia operates in the remote highlands of the Sudirman Mountain Range in the province
of Papua, Indonesia, which is on the western half of the island of New Guinea. Operations have been in
place since 1967 with production commencing in 1973 from the Ertsberg Open pit. The Grasberg
minerals district has a history of rapid expansion due to an aggressive exploration program that drives the
mine plan. Figure 1 shows the increase in production tonnes since 1973 and the disposition of ore
production from open pit and underground sources.
The Grasberg minerals district currently has three mines in operation: the Grasberg open pit, the Deep
Ore Zone (DOZ) underground block cave and the Big Gossan open stoping mine.
The ore bodies are located within and around two main igneous intrusions; the Grasberg monzodiorite
and the Ertsberg diorite. The igneous-hosted ore bodies include the Grasberg open pit and planned block
cave below it and portions of the south DOZ block cave. The mineralization occurs as vein stockworks
and disseminations of copper sulfides, dominated by chalcopyrite and, to a much lesser extent, bornite.
The sedimentary-rock hosted ore bodies which include portions of the north DOZ and all of the Big
Gossan occur as magnetite-rich, calcium/magnesian skarn replacements, whose location and orientation
are strongly influenced by major faults and by the chemistry of the carbonate rocks along the margins of
the intrusions (Coutts, 1999).

Figure 1 - Historical Ore Sources and Production Ramp-Up at PTFI

Mining History
East Ertsberg Skarn System (EESS)
PTFI has been operating caving mines since 1980 with the start of the Gunung Bijih Timur (GBT) mines.
This was a series of two mining sectors that produced until 1994 with a peak rate of 30ktpd. The GBT
was followed by the Intermediate Ore Zone (IOZ) caving mine which produced from 1994 through 2003
at a peak rate of 20ktpd.

Figure 2 Ore Bodies at PTFI with Base Elevations (m)

The Grasberg minerals district currently has three mines in operation; the Deep Ore Zone (DOZ)
underground block cave, the Grasberg open pit and the Big Gossan open stoping mine. Figure 2 shows
the vertical progression of the depleted, operating and planned caving mines in the EESS. At the
completion of the DMLZ mine the EESS will have produced over 1 billion tonnes of ore from four caving
lifts over six decades. The figure also shows the location of the ore bodies to be discussed in this paper
and their spatial relationship to each other.
Deep Ore Zone
The Deep Ore Zone (DOZ) caving mine was initiated in late 2000 while the IOZ mine was still producing.
A lateral offset in the DOZ caving initiation point was applied to defer caving impacts to the operating
IOZ mine. The DOZ was originally designed as 25ktpd operation but was put through a series of mine
expansions based on exploration results. The DOZ achieved an average production rate of 80ktpd in
2010. It is planned to be complete by 2019. (Casten, 2008)
Grasberg Open Pit
Open-pit mining of the Grasberg ore body commenced in 1990 and is expected to continue through mid2016. Alternate completion dates are being considered and are discussed below. The open pit mines
approximately 160ktpd of ore with varying strip ratios based on the timing of pushbacks. As the open pit
completes its life in mid-2016 it will have produced approximately 1.4 billion tonnes of ore.
Big Gossan
The Big Gossan mine is adjacent to the current mill site and is a skarn hosted copper, gold and silver
deposit. It has reserves of 56 million tonnes and it is a near vertical ore body with approximate
dimensions of 1,200 meters along strike and 800 meters down dip with varying thicknesses from 20
meters to 120 meters. The mine utilizes a blasthole stoping method with cemented paste backfill. Main
stope sizes are planned at 40m high by 15m wide by 20m long but will vary depending on ground types
encountered. Production from Big Gossan commenced in 2010 and is currently planned to ramp up to
7,000 metric tons of ore per day by the middle of 2013.
Future Mining and Support Operations
The future of the mining district lies within large underground ore bodies currently being developed for
production. These ore bodies will replace both the Grasberg open pit and DOZ mines when they are
completed and will carry the district up to a production rate of 240ktpd from underground mines as shown
in Figure 4. The future underground caving mines being developed are the Deep MLZ (DMLZ),
Grasberg Block Cave (GBC) and Kucing Liar (KL) mines. Table 1 shows the current reserves and capital
development expenditures for the ore bodies discussed. The future undeveloped underground ore bodies
account for 75 % of the remaining reserve.
Common Infrastructure Project (CIP)
The CIP system is a set of access tunnels called the Ali Boediardjo (AB) adits, driven from the Ridge
Camp Rail Yard (RCRY) surface area. Ridge Camp is a main housing area for mine workers and the rail
personnel terminal will be located within walking distance of the barracks. The Ridge Camp area also
contains materials warehousing and will be used as a laydown and staging area to supply the UG Mines.
This surface installation is at the 2500m elevation and underpins all of the future underground mines. The
CIP system forms the logistical backbone for the future underground mines. These adits will be used for
the transportation of men, materials, waste muck and for reliable gravity drainage to the GBC, DMLZ,
Big Gossan and KL mines. A full gauge electrified rail system capable of carrying sea container sized
loads will be installed in the adits as part of the logistics backbone.

Table 1- Ore Reserves and Estimated Capital Expenditures at PTFI

The first round was taken on the adits in September 2004 once initial early studies indicated that the GBC
mine was a feasible and attractive project for the district. This is a project lead time for the GBC of 12
years from initial access to first tonne of caved ore. The tunnels have been developed to all of the mines
with the exception of the KL, which is scheduled for a later start-up in the district schedule. The tunnels
are currently being outfitted with the rail system and are planned to be operational for muck haulage in
late 2012 with full service in 2013, (Brannon, 2012). It is important to note that this system does not
handle ore and has been designed to primarily support logistical operations for the underground mines as
they ramp-up and sustain production levels at a rate of 240ktpd.
Another key point to note is the reliable gravity drainage provided by the AB tunnel system. The area
experiences approximately five meters of rainfall annually which produces significant underground water
flows. Currently the UG mines produce approximately 1,700 l/s of water utilizing gravity drainage via
adits. This water is utilized in the milling of the ore and allowances have been made to pump the same
quantity of water to the mill from the new and deeper underground mines. As the new mines will be
operating at a range of 300-500m below the current drainage adits, the AB adits act as back-up drainage
conduits in case of main pump system failures in the deeper mines. This greatly simplifies the required
pumping systems planned to be installed. See Figure 2 for elevation details.
Deep Mill Level Zone (DMLZ)
The DMLZ mine is the fourth lift planned for the EESS Orebody and it sits approximately 500m below
the current DOZ mine. The DMLZ will commence caving in early 2015 and it will ramp-up to 80ktpd by
2020. The mine will apply the same methodologies as currently being used in the DOZ mine. The
DMLZ will employ advanced undercutting caving methods with LHD mucking to centralized ore passes.
Large capacity haul trucks will transfer the ore via chutes to one of two 63 x 89 gyratory crushers. The
ore will then be raised approximately 500m to the existing mill level stockpiles using a series of inclined
conveyor belts. The DMLZ mine will utilize the existing ventilation infrastructure installed for use by the
DOZ mine and will connect to these main fan installations by means of 500m long large diameter (6m)
ventilation raises.
The DMLZ will be the deepest mine brought into production to date with the Extraction level at the
2605m elevation. Access is available from a service decline that will parallel the lift conveyors and by a
rail spur connected to the Common Infrastructure system as previously discussed. Drainage will utilize
the AB Adits to the RCRY surface area.
The DMLZ production start-up is schedule for 2015, four years prior to the completion of the DOZ mine.
The DOZ cave activities will be at the far south west side of the Orebody while DMLZ caving will

initiate further to the east. Cave to cave modeling (Wellman, 2012) indicates that this four year overlap is
acceptable and that DOZ infrastructure will remain viable over this period.
Grasberg Block Cave (GBC)
The GBC mine is the continuation of the Grasberg Open Pit mine and will commence caving once the
open pit has completed mining operations. The GBC Orebody is approximately 1 km by 1 km and
contains over 1 billion tonnes of ore. The 700,000 m2 foot print will consist of 2,400 draw points that
utilize an El Teniente or straight through design. This allows the Orebody to be sub divided into a
series of production panel, (Brannon, 2012).
Kucing Liar (KL)
The KL mine is planned for pre-production development in 2018 with a caving start-up in 2025. The
mine will operate at a maximum tonnage rate of 100ktpd and has reserves of over 400 million tonnes.
The KL Orebody is located adjacent to and also underlying the GBC Orebody. See Figure 2. This will be
the last caving mine to be developed in the sequence and will help sustain the planned 240ktpd mining
rate for the life of the district. The KL mine will share elements of the GBC ventilation and oreflow
systems and will displace lower value material from the GBC when it begins production in2025.
Production Timing and Constraints
The timing of the different underground deposits and their interaction with existing operating mines is a
fairly complex problem with a series of identified limits and fixed constraints that have been used to
formulate the highest value approach to mine start-up and timing.
Production Rates
The sustainable maximum production rates for each deposit have been identified using existing empirical
data from current site operations and from the feasibility study work performed on each mine plan. The
key drivers for the block cave are; 1) opening and closing rates of draw points, 2) ventilation requirements
as step functions and, 3) oreflow requirements as step functions.

Figure 3 - DOZ Mine Average Annual Production Ramp-Up

Production Ramp-Up
Once caving has been initiated the key driver is the rate of production ramp-up that can be sustained to
achieve full production in the shortest period. The DOZ mine initiated caving in late 2000 and achieved
80ktpd in early 2010 or approximately a nine year ramp-up. However, as the DOZ went through a series
of production target expansions after it initiated caving the production rate stayed constrained for 3 years
at approximately 45ktpd while additional ventilation and oreflow systems were installed. Over the
actively ramping-up time frames, the DOZ achieved average rate increases of approximately 1,000
tpd/month. See Figure 3.
Historically achieved rates are used for planning purposes but increasing this production acceleration rate
is a major value driver and several initiatives are currently in place to examine options in the future mines.
Caving operations such as undercutting and draw belling have the potential to be executed at much higher
rates than typically seen in the panel cave environment. The constraint to caving faster is primarily the
availability of constructed draw points outside of local zones of caving influence (Wellman, 2012)
Initiatives such as rapid development and draw point construction have been identified as areas with high
value leverage.
A trial of GBC draw point options within the DOZ production footprint is currently underway to help
identify any issues with the planned methodology and to assist in producing higher productivities of
development and construction in the GBC footprint once pre-production development and construction
activities commence. Figure 4 shows the 25 GBC style draw points under trial in the DOZ footprint.

Figure 4- GBC Draw Point Trial in DOZ - An Opportunity to Accelerate GBC Development and
Construction Activities
Production Timing
This is set by the maximum development and construction schedules achievable during the preproduction period and by key interactions between deposits due to geotechnical constraints. Ensuring that
access, ventilation and oreflow systems are in place and operating prior to the cave date is critical to mine
start-up.
DOZ and DMLZ interaction is governed by the DMLZ cave interaction to key DOZ infrastructure located
in the future DMLZ cave zones. The current 5 year overlap in production is felt to the maximum
achievable before DOZ production is impacted. However, on a value basis the loss of DOZ production

due to earlier DMLZ production is positive as the early DMLZ ore is much higher grade than the last year
of DOZ production. The biggest constraint to an earlier start to the DMLZ comes from the current
development and construction schedules. These are constantly being reviewed and challenged and the
DMLZ cave will initiate as soon as possible with the most likely scenario being in early 2015.
The other major interaction is between the Grasberg Open Pit and the timing of the GBC cave. This is
currently scheduled for mid-2016 but is constantly being reviewed to select the best value point for the
transition. At the time of pit closure the Grasberg will be over 2.5 km wide and approximately 1.0 km
deep, one of the largest, steepest and deepest pits in the world. Early initiation of caving in the GBC
would jeopardize pit operations by impacting slope stability. The crown pillar between the underground
and open pit varies but at its closest is around 270m thick. The GBC will be in a position to initiate
caving in early 2016, well before pit closure. This overlapping potential production period allows the
GBC to continue on with pre-production activities while the open pit is producing. The additional
developed and constructed draw points that would be available for caving operations allow for an
accelerated ramp-up of the GBC cave

Figure 5- LOM Development Plan Comparison between 2012 & 2002

Inset Graph Shows Net Production Increase in Gap Period

One of the key areas of focus over the last ten years has been the gap period between the completion of
the Grasberg Open Pit and the ramp-up of the various underground mines. This transition from open pit
to underground left a significant gap in mill feed. Figure 5 show a comparison between the Development
Plan from 2002 versus the current plan. It can be seen that over this ten year period significant additions
to the gap period have occurred resulting in a net increase of 97 million tonnes of ore being added into
this period. It should be noted that any tonnes shown after the end of 2041 fall outside of the current
Contract of Work with the Government of Indonesia and are considered to resources and not minable
reserves.
As alternate pit options are considered, the GBC mine continues to maintain focus on the baseline
development schedule. Any extensions to the open pit would result in a deferral of caving but would
allow for additional pre-production work being completed in the GBC prior to caving operations. This
would assist in production ramp-up of the cave once the pit was completed. To date the best value
options still indicate a 2016 pit completion date (Stack, 2011) although other alternate ideas such as low
grade open pit stockpiles positioned away from any cave influence are being implemented to extend pit
life independently of the GBC cave interactions.
Conclusions
Recognizing the long term plan for ore deposit succession at PTFI was vital in justifying an early start to
mine access. Early study work and mine access has allowed for the recognition of production constraints
and drivers. This in turn has generated numerous options to be considered for mine production timing
and development.
The baseline plan has been adhered to over the period with changes in timing being absorbed as needed
while continued focus on advancing the future underground mines has been maintained.
The key is to view the entire district as a whole from a value driven perspective. All decisions on mine
timing are tied to valuation of the best cases analysed. Compiling the different existing and planned
operations into a single life of mine district plan is essential when trying to evaluate possible alternatives.
Maintaining a consistent approach between options is required for fair and defendable decisions.
Successful brownfield projects at PTFI have provided the confidence required to move forward with some
of the large capacity underground mines being proposed. This site based institutional knowledge is being
captured, tested and improved using existing mines and will be applied to the future ore bodies being
developed.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold for supporting the writing and
publishing of this paper. The information presented in this paper is the culmination of a series of
improvements made to the LOM development plan over the past ten years. These improvements are
based on work by the Long Range Planning teams in Phoenix and by the technical staff at PT Freeport
Indonesia and those teams should be recognized for their contributions.
References
Coutts B.P. et al (1999) Geology of the Deep Ore Zone, Ertsberg East Skarn System, Irian Jaya, AusIMM
PACRIM Conference 1999, Indonesia

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Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.
Wellman, E. C., Killian, J.R., Brannon, C. A., Ross, I. (2012) Grasberg Block Cave Drawpoint Opening
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