Jakarta. Indonesia is reviewing whether Freeport Indonesia may resume operations at mining areas unaffected by the September 2025 landslide, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said Monday, as the government seeks to limit the economic fallout from the shutdown.

Bahlil said several production zones at Freeport’s Papua concession were not directly linked to the accident and could potentially be cleared to restart.

“There are areas not related to the incident. These are now being examined to see if they can go back into production,” he told reporters in Jakarta.

The government is concerned that a prolonged halt would weigh on state revenue, regional income, employment, and the supply of concentrate to Freeport’s Gresik smelter in East Java, which has stopped operating due to a lack of feedstock.

Bahlil said evaluation teams remain on site and that Jakarta will not impose a deadline, stressing that safety remains the top priority.

Separately, Director General of Mineral and Coal Tri Winarno confirmed that Freeport has formally requested permission to restart operations at unaffected zones. Authorities are now reviewing the company’s mitigation plan.

Freeport suspended all underground production after the Sept. 8 landslide inside the Grasberg Block Cave (GBC) system in Mimika, Central Papua, which trapped seven workers. The final body was recovered on Oct. 6.

Freeport President Director Tony Wenas earlier said the company hopes to resume limited mining to produce concentrate for Gresik while remediation of the affected panels continues.

Local officials say a full return could take time. Mimika Regent Johannes Rettob said copper and gold output from GBC may not fully resume until mid-2026, depending on the findings of the Mining Inspectorate.

Reports submitted to local authorities indicate cleanup of the landslide-hit section, where about 800,000 tons of wet ore material inundated nearly a kilometer of tunnel, could take six to eight months.

Before the accident, GBC accounted for about 60 percent of Freeport’s total underground output. Freeport mined an average of 208,356 tons of ore per day in 2024 across Grasberg Block Cave, Deep Mill Level Zone, and Big Gossan — of which GBC alone produced around 133,800 tons daily.

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