Rio has lingered too long at Grasberg

RIO Tinto is set to sell out of the copper-gold wonder that is the Freeport-McMoRan-operated Grasberg mine, high in the remote and glacier-capped Sudirman mountain range in Indonesia’s Papua province, for a suggested US$3.5 billion. Not before time either, writes Barry FitzGerald.

Rio has lingered too long at Grasberg Rio has lingered too long at Grasberg Rio has lingered too long at Grasberg Rio has lingered too long at Grasberg Rio has lingered too long at Grasberg

The Grasberg pit

Rio or RTZ as it was has been there since 1995, having beaten what was its Australian-listed subsidiary CRA to the punch when Freeport went looking for funds to finance the development of Grasberg