Indonesia’s First Copper Mine Dedicated The Ertsberg copper mining operations of Freeport, Indonesia, Inc. were officially dedicated in March by President Suharto of Indonesia. The Ertsberg deposit, con- taining 33,000,000 tons of proven ore with an average copper content of 2.5 3 is being mined in accordance with a con- tract of work which was first issued un- der the new foreign investment Law en- acted by the Suharto administration in 1967. It is Indonesia's first copper mine, reaching production slightly ahead of schedule after more than two years of construction in difficult jungle and mountain terrain. Cost of the project is approximately $150 million. TRAINING THE ERTSBERG, FREEPORT GOES COPPER "The only mining problem we have is keep- ing the ore from falling down the moun- tain"'". That is the Ertsberg - the west Irian, Indonesia, orebody that will put Freeport Sulphur in the copper business. The Ertsberg, meaning ''Ore Mountain" in Dutch, is just literally that. It isa 400 foot high out cropping of magnetite and chalcopyrite, running 2 1/2 % copper and 0.025% gold and 0.265 oz. of silver per ton. The Orebody extends 1,200 ft. below the surface, bringing total ore serves to about 33 million tons. Pro- duction has already been sold for the life of the mine: 2/3 to Japanese smelters and _ 1/3 to West Germany. It is believed to be the largest above ground outcrop of base metals in the world. re- Its physical setting makes it one of the most uninviting mining projects in the world despite the fantastic structure of the orebody itself. A top a jagged mountain 11,500 feet high, almost always in fog, locked in by other and even high- er mountains, by miles of tropical rain forests, by malarial swamps, on a largely uninhabited island that is soaked with rainfall, baked by the sun yet cropped with ice, and lacking seaport, roads and ' all other ordinary means of communication. A 69 mile access road to the port site on the coast is currently under construction. 10 The road will run through 9 miles of man- grove swamp - 31 miles of tropical rain for- est, and 29 miles of mountains. Starting at the top of Ertsberg at the 11,500 ft. level, conventional mining methods will be used. At 11,000 feet, ore will be crushed, then trans ported by conveyor belt and aerial cableway to the concentrator at the foot of the peak, 9,000 ft. After 8-10 years surface mining, the remainder will be worked by underground mining methods. The concentrate will be then pumped in slurry form through a 4-inch pipe- line which will parallel the access road leading to the coast. Port facilities will be located on a dredge-filled area 6 1/2 miles up to the Topeka river from the Arafura Sea, which separates New Guinea from Australia. The slurry will be dewatered, dried and stored at point of shipping. Townsite at 6,000 ft. Living accomodations for project personnel, commisary, hospital, community building with recreation facilities water and sewage treatment, plants, maintain- ence and supply building, office, labatory, and diesel power plant. An airstrip will be built near the port site to link the project with the nearest Indonesian and Australian airports. This article was submitted by Mrs. Carol Skakun, daughter of Mr. & Mrs. R. McKenzie Carok'S husband has been in Indonesia Since January 2973 and she has just hecently joined him there. KKK RKKKK KK RK KR RRR KKK KKK KKK KKK KKKKK KEES What's a Guy Supposed To Do? Maxi mum Maximum 30 mph 20 mph Driving on Connell Drive West had been quite confusing even to the most experienced dri- ver when he came upon the signs as seen above. The situation has since been correct- ed but we would ask the jokers who about faced the 30 m.p.h. sign to refrain from tampering ‘with the signs.