BTW, I called Grasberg a base metal (copper) mine below; Poulgrain repeatedly calls it a gold mine. It is both -- on value it has been about 60:40 copper:gold over the 30-year life of the open pit (1990-2019; mining has now moved underground).
https://twitter.com/Gergyl/status/1442272841836097540
Reported total open pit production was 12.2 million tonnes of copper and 47 million ounces of gold. At approximate 30-year average prices, those were worth US$60 billion for the copper and US$40 billion for the gold -- about US$100 billion all up.
(Data: miningdataonline.com/property/303/G…)
(Data: miningdataonline.com/property/303/G…)
That's (Douglas Adams' mice voice) 'a lot of moneeeey', but hardly an Earth-shattering amount …and note that development turned out to be so challenging that the thing wouldn't have shown a profit until the end of the century, by when Allen Dulles had been dead for 30 years.
*If* it was an intense personal interest of his, then it was an extremely foolish one. Wouldn't be the first in history to be gold-obsessed though.
Another #DYK: Grasberg was for many years operated fly-in fly-out out of Cairns, at least for expat staff. Our country is full of dirty little 'secrets'.
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