PHOENIX — Freeport-McMoRan announced its second quarter earnings and production Wednesday, showing strong growth.
Citing favorable pricing for U.S. copper sales and worldwide gold sales, the company reported revenues of about $7.6 billion, an increase of about 15 percent.
Freeport produced 963 million pounds of copper during the second quarter, 317,000 ounces of gold and 22 million pound of molybdenum.
“As a leading copper producer, our role is increasingly important in providing essential metals to a growing market. Our global team is committed to producing and growing our production safely, efficiently and responsibly, and we are challenging ourselves to improve efficiencies and leverage new technologies to drive better performance and grow production more quickly with lower capital intensity. We achieved a major milestone during the second quarter with the startup of our new large-scale copper smelter in Indonesia. We are well positioned for the future, both domestically, as America’s copper champion, and internationally, with large-scale production of copper, gold and molybdenum, a highly qualified and experienced team, a portfolio of attractive organic growth opportunities and a strong balance sheet and financial position,” said Kathleen Quirk, Freeport president and CEO.
During the second quarter Freeport also started its new smelter in Indonesia, with the first production of copper cathode expected this month.
