Skip to content
Subscriber Only

Copper Supply Woes on Show With No. 2 Mine Output to Halve

  • Freeport lowered Grasberg guidance after technical challenges
  • Grasberg production may drop by more than 300,000 tons in 2019
Updated on

A battle over the world’s second-largest copper mine has dogged Freeport-McMoRan Inc. shareholders for more than a year. Now it may be the turn of the copper market.

Production at Grasberg in Indonesia will fall by more than half next year as its giant pits transition to underground operations, cutting some 300,000 metric tons of supply from a market many already believe is headed for deficit.