Thursday, July 21, 2011

Freeport profits more than double; ramping up Arizona production


Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold reports net income for the 2Q of 2011 of $1.4 billion, more than double that of $649 million, a year ago. The increase is due to a combined increased in production of copper, gold, and molybdenum and price increases for the metals. The company said "Consolidated sales from mines for second-quarter 2011 totaled 1.0 billion pounds of copper, 356 thousand ounces of gold and 21 million pounds of molybdenum, compared with 914 million pounds of copper, 298 thousand ounces of gold and 16 million pounds of molybdenum for second-quarter 2010."

The company also described efforts to expand operations and increase production at its Arizona among others:

At Morenci [right, my photo, May 2008], FCX completed its project to ramp up mining rates to 635,000 metric tons of ore per day and milling rates to approximately 50,000 metric tons per day, resulting in an increase of 125 million pounds of copper per year.

FCX is advancing a feasibility study to expand mining and milling capacity at Morenci to process additional sulfide ores identified through positive exploratory drilling over the last few years. This project, which would require significant investment, would increase milling rates to approximately 115,000 metric tons of ore per day and target incremental annual copper production of approximately 225 million pounds within three years, following completion of the feasibility study, expected by year-end 2011.

The ramp up of mining activities at the Miami mine continues. FCX expects production at Miami to ramp up to approximately 100 million pounds of copper per year by 2012.

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