Grasberg: Mining the richest and most remote deposit of copper and gold in the world, in the mountains of Irian Jaya, Indonesia

by George A. Mealey

In 1936, deep in the heart of New Guinea, a young Dutch geologist made a remarkable discover; a glistening black outcropping of high-grade copper ore. Although Jean Jacques Dozy's Ertsberg was the largest above-ground copper deposit ever found, it was so remote, he said, that it may as well have been "on the moon." But after World War II, his dusty report reached Freeport Sulphur exploration chief Forbes Wilson, who was instantly captivated by this unlikely deposit. After pioneering a near-impossible road through the swamps and mountains of Irian Jaya, and negotiating the first foreign contract with Indonesia's Suharto government, the company shipped its first Ersberg copper in 1972. Fifteen years later, just a few kilometers from the original mine, Freeport geologists found Grasberg, a deposit with the largest gold reserves and third-largest copper reserves in the world.

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Grasberg mine is amazing! There is no doubt about it. Huge, high, remote...it holds all the mystique that you can hand it. The story of it's discovery is amazing, as well as that of Ertsberg. The logistics of working it are astounding. BUT, the author missed the mark on this one....it's a pretty dry read, for all its potential. Even at that though I give it four stars...it's informative, had (hands-down) the best presentation of any book I've ever read - with hundreds of full color photographs, maps, diagrams, etc.
Usually one of my biggest complaints in books of this type is a lack of maps. This book silences me there. Full-color fold-out spreads, high grade paper, made it enjoyable on a different level. A very well constructed book, speaking of materials. The editing left some to be desired for as much as they put into print quality.

Divided into three parts - discovery (the best written), production/development, and (to me the least interesting) the environmental and social accolades of the company. Written by a past president of Freeport, you would expect them to pat themselves on the back, and they do a pretty thorough job of it, granted they likely deserve a lot of it too. It had a lot of great info and I enjoyed learning about this deposit...but it wasn't a page turner. The Grasberg on the other hand is definitely a head turner, and for that I found this book very enjoyable.

Will also read at some point in the future Forbes Wilson's first hand account "The Conquest of Copper Mountain".

[Larissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A solid mountain of gold and copper in one of the last wildernesses in the world - fascinating. Having only read about the negative political and environmental impacts of the Grasberg mine on the indigenous people of Irian Jaya, this book provided a counter-balance. Accessing Grasberg and bringing it to production was a phenomenal technological achievement, in the harshest conditions imaginable – the best of human ingenuity. This a wonderful book, so richly illustrated and well written. It fell into my lap by accident, and I'm so glad it did. Now if only some of the profits could be used to harness all that resourcefulness to clean up the polluted waterways...

[Charlton Lmn · Rating 5 out of 5]

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