JAKARTA, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Rescue efforts are

continuing at Freeport Indonesia's Grasberg copper and gold mine

following a large mud flow that trapped seven workers last week,

a mining ministry official said on Monday.

Mining operations remain suspended, Tri Winarno, a senior

official at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, told

Reuters.

The incident occurred last Monday, and Tri said a team from the

ministry is onsite to monitor the situation.

"The rescue efforts are quite complicated because of the

underground location," he said. "The initial estimation was for

the rescue to not take this long."

Freeport Indonesia did not respond on Monday to Reuters'

request for an update on the workers and the situation at the

mine.

On Friday, Freeport-McMoRan ( FCX ) said extensive efforts were

ongoing

to clear access

routes to where the seven people were working at the time

of the incident.