Materials
Copper
$55.62B
27.2K
Freeport-McMoRan is a leading international mining company, primarily focused on copper, with significant gold and molybdenum production. They operate large, long-lived assets across the globe, including the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia and large-scale mining operations in North and South America. Freeport-McMoRan is one of the world's largest publicly traded copper producers and benefits from favorable long-term copper demand fundamentals.
Key insights and themes extracted from this filing
Consolidated revenues increased to $25.455 billion in 2024 compared to $22.855 billion in 2023. This increase is primarily due to higher average realized copper and gold prices.
Consolidated operating cash flows increased to $7.160 billion in 2024 compared to $5.279 billion in 2023. This increase is attributed to higher average realized copper and gold prices and higher gold sales volumes.
Net income attributable to common stockholders increased to $1.889 billion in 2024 compared to $1.848 billion in 2023. This increase is primarily due to higher average realized copper and gold prices and higher gold sales volumes.
Construction of PT-FI's new smelter in Eastern Java, Indonesia was completed during 2024. As part of start-up activities, PT-FI commenced gold production from its new PMR in December 2024.
Initiatives across North America and South America operations are progressing by incorporating new applications, technologies and data analytics to leaching processes. Incremental copper production from these initiatives totaled 214 million pounds in 2024, compared with a total of 144 million pounds in 2023.
We have a potential expansion project to more than double the concentrator capacity of the Bagdad operation in northwest Arizona. Bagdad's reserve life currently exceeds 80 years and supports an expanded operation.
In October 2024, during start-up activities of the new smelter, a fire occurred requiring a temporary suspension of smelting operations to complete repairs. PT-FI expects repairs to be completed by mid-2025 and ramp-up to full capacity to be achieved by year-end 2025.
Our results for 2024 reflect solid execution of our operating plans and we are committed to enhancing productivity, managing costs and capital and advancing opportunities for long-term profitable growth and value creation.
Pursuant to regulations issued during 2024, PT-FI is eligible to apply for an extension of its mining rights beyond 2041, provided certain conditions are met, including ownership of integrated downstream facilities that have entered the operational stage.
Our operations are subject to significant operational risks that could adversely affect our business, including the ability to smelt and refine, and our underground mining operations have higher risks than a surface mine.
Geopolitical, economic, regulatory and social risks for our operations; and PT-FI's failure to meet its commitments to achieve the extension of its IUPK.
Fluctuations in the market prices of the commodities we produce have caused and may continue to cause significant volatility in our financial performance and in the trading prices of our common stock.
Based on Wood Mackenzie's December 2024 estimates, we ranked third among those producers for the year 2024, with approximately 6% of estimated total worldwide mined copper production based on net equity ownership.
We believe our competitive position is based on the size, quality and grade of our ore bodies and our ability to manage costs compared with other producers.
We have a diverse portfolio of mining operations with varying ore grades and cost structures. Our costs are driven by the location, grade and nature of our ore bodies, and the level of input costs, including energy, labor and equipment.
Expanded operations would provide improved efficiency and reduce unit net cash costs through economies of scale. Project economics indicate that the expansion would require an incentive copper price in the range of $3.50 to $4.00 per pound and approximately three to four years to complete.
Bagdad's reserve life currently exceeds 80 years and supports an expanded operation. In late 2023, we completed technical and economic studies, which indicate the opportunity to construct new concentrating facilities to increase copper production by 200 to 250 million pounds per year at estimated incremental project
In 2023, we announced a project to convert Bagdad's fleet of haul trucks to become fully autonomous. The testing of the autonomous fleet is expected to begin in second-quarter 2025 with anticipated project completion by year-end 2025.
We are progressing initiatives across our North America and South America operations by incorporating new applications, technologies and data analytics to our leaching processes.
We have projects underway to apply recent operational enhancements to our leaching processes on a larger scale and are testing new innovative technology applications that we believe have the potential for significant increases in recoverable metal from leach stockpiles beyond the current run rate.
In December 2024, PT-FI completed construction of a new copper cleaner circuit, a mill recovery project to enhance recoveries and optimize concentrate production, with commissioning underway.
In 2024, capital expenditures totaled $4.8 billion (including $2.1 billion for major mining projects - primarily for underground development activities in the Grasberg minerals district - and $1.2 billion for PT-FI's new downstream processing facilities).
During 2024 we acquired 1.2 million shares of our common stock for a total cost of $59 million ($50.48 average cost per share) bringing total purchases under our $5.0 billion share repurchase program to 49.0 million shares for a cost of $1.9 billion ($38.64 average cost per share).
PT-FI plans to transition its existing energy source from coal to natural gas, which would meaningfully reduce PT-FI's Scope 1 GHG emissions at the Grasberg minerals district.
We are dedicated to the recognition, respect and promotion of human rights wherever we do business. We are committed to respecting the rights of all people, including our employees, business partners, community members and others who potentially may be impacted by our business activities.
We demonstrate our responsible production performance through the Copper Mark, a comprehensive assurance framework developed specifically for the copper industry, and recently extended to other metals including molybdenum.
We dedicate substantial financial resources and internal and external technical resources to pursue the safe management of our tailings facilities and to reduce or eliminate the number of and potential consequences of credible failure modes.
We believe fundamentals for copper are favorable with growing demand supported by copper's critical role in the global transition to renewable power, electric vehicles and other carbon-reduction initiatives, continued urbanization in developing countries, data centers and artificial intelligence developments and growing connectivity globally.
Regulations that affect us also may include mandated corporate climate-related reporting, including: The SEC's new climate-related disclosure rules, which are being challenged in federal courts.
Regulations that affect us also may include mandated corporate climate-related reporting, including: The EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, which requires in scope entities to provide detailed reporting on climate change and other sustainability topics.