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.