Dutch Geological Jean-Jacquez Dozy visited Indonesia in 1936 to scale Jayawijaya Mountains Glaciers in the province of Irian Jaya in West Papua. He made notes on the strange black stone with greenish color. In 1939, he filled a record of Ertsberg (Dutch for "ore mountain"). However, the events of World War II led to the report was not addressed. Twenty years later, geological Forbes Wilson, worked for the mining company Freeport, read the report. He was in search tuga nickel reserves, but then forget about it after he read the report. He stopped smoking and train his body to prepare for the trip to check Ertsberg. The expedition, led by Forbes Wilson and Del Flint, found a large copper deposit in Ertsberg in 1960.
Income copper Grasberg increased from 515,400 tons in 2004 to 793,000 tons in 2005. 's gold production increased from 1.58 million ounces to 3.55 million ounces.