SHOWCASE GOLD MINE OF THE WEEK - GRASBERG!!

Grasberg gold mine in the Papua province of Indonesia is currently the world’s largest gold mine in terms of contained gold. The estimated gold reserves at Grasberg as of December 2012 stood at 70.968 million ounces (Moz). The Grasberg mining operation consists of the Grasberg open pit and two underground mines, namely DOZ and Big Gossan. The mine is operated by Freeport Indonesia (PTFI), a subsidiary of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX). PTFI owns 90.64% of the Grasberg mining operation, while the rest (9.36%) is owned by the Government of Indonesia. Rio Tinto has also a sharing agreement with FCX in the Grasberg mining operation. The Graseberg mine was discovered in 1988. The open pit operation started in 1990. The mine produced 862,000oz of gold in 2012, milling 165,000t of ore a day. Ongoing expansions at the mine are expected to ramp up the production to 240,000t per day by 2022 - Mining Technology.

To view the mine in Google Earth, kindly click on the link below:

"https://earth.app.goo.gl/YYo2cq"