Freeport-McMoRan Inc., often called Freeport, is an American mining company based in the Freeport-McMoRan Center, in Phoenix, Arizona. The company is the world's largest producer of

molybdenum Molybdenum is a chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42 which is located in period 5 and group 6. The name is from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'', which is based on Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lea ...

, is a major copper producer and operates the world's largest gold mine, the Grasberg mine in Papua, Indonesia.

History

The current company was created in 1981 through the merger of Freeport Minerals, formerly Texas Freeport Sulphur Company and McMoRan Oil & Gas Company, becoming Freeport-McMoRan Inc.

Early history

Freeport Sulphur Company was founded July 12, 1912 by the eldest son of Svante Magnus "E.M." Swenson, banker Eric Pierson Swenson, with a group of investors, to develop

sulfur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...

mining at Bryan Mound salt dome, along the US Gulf Coast.''Poor's''
''Poor's Government and Municipal Supplement'', Poor's Publishing Company, 1922, p. 760. Freeport, Texas was also established in Nov. 1912 to house workers, and serve as a port for Houston, rivaling Galveston and Corpus Christi. Freeport mined sulfur along the Gulf Coast using the Frasch Process, the patents for which had expired in 1912. Previously, Union Sulphur Company founder and patent-holder Herman Frasch had enjoyed a monopoly on the process. The company became known as Freeport Sulphur, later changing its corporate name to Freeport Minerals. In 1922, Freeport started producing sulfur from Hoskins Mound in Brazoria County, Texas.

Freeport Texas Company

Enterprise to support Freeport Sulphur's business and the new town's

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...

led to the incorporation of a holding company on September 30, 1913, to join the newer assets with Freeport Sulphur. Officers of the new holding company, Freeport Texas Company, were: * Eric. P. Swenson, President and Director (Freeport Sulphur founder, son of

Swante M. Swenson Swante M. Swenson (February 24, 1816 – June 13, 1896) was the founder of the SMS ranches in West Texas. It was through his efforts that Swedish immigration to Texas was begun in 1848. In 1972, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners o ...

) * Edward E. Dickinson, Vice-President and Director * F.M. Altz, Secretary * Swante M. Swenson, Treasurer (son of Eric P. Swenson) * Charles H. Findlay, Auditor (son of

Hugh Findlay Hugh Findlay (June 9, 1822 in Newmilns, Ayrshire, Scotland – March 2, 1900 in Fish Haven, Idaho) was one of the first two Mormon missionaries to enter India and initiated Mormon missionary work in the Shetland Islands. Conversion Findlay ...

and his third wife, Mary Ellen Smith) * Richard H. Williams, Director (son of Richard H. Williams) *

Harry K. Knapp Harry Kearsarge Knapp (September 25, 1864 - January 31, 1926) was a United States financier and a prominent executive in the Thoroughbred horse racing industry in which he had been a steward, secretary-treasurer and vice-chairman of The Jockey Clu ...

, Director * Samuel McRoberts, Director * Charles P. Northrop, Director *

Charles A. Stone Charles Augustus Stone (1867-1941) was an early electrical engineer and graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He co-founded Stone & Webster with his friend Edwin S. Webster. He served as chairman of the company for many years ...

, Director *

Frank A. Vanderlip Frank Arthur Vanderlip Sr. (November 17, 1864 – June 30, 1937) was an American banker and journalist. He was president of the National City Bank of New York (now Citibank) from 1909 to 1919, and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury from 18 ...

, Director * Sidell Tilghman, Director (son of General

Lloyd Tilghman Lloyd Tilghman (January 26, 1816 – May 16, 1863) was a Confederate general in the American Civil War. A railroad construction engineer by background, he was selected by the Confederate government to build two forts to defend the Tennessee ...

) * Eppa Hunton, Jr., Director (son of late Virginia Senator, Brig. Gen.

Eppa Hunton Eppa Hunton II (September 24, 1822October 11, 1908) was a Virginia lawyer and soldier who rose to become a brigadier general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. After the war, he served as a Democrat in both the United States ...

) * Charles E. Herrmann, Director. The new corporation's principal assets were listed as: * Freeport Sulphur * Freeport Gas Co. * Freeport Sulphur Transportation Company * Freeport Town Site Co. * Freeport Terminal Co. * Freeport Light, Water & Ice Co. * South Texas Stevedore Co. * La Espuela Oil Co. * Société pour l'Importation et la Vente des Soufres * Houston & Brazoz Valley Ry In 1919, minority stockholders John R. Williams & Sons, First National Bank of Richmond, Virginia vice-president, W. M. Addison, Benjamin P Alsopp, E. L. Norton, and Samuel W. Travers solicited proxies to use at the April 5th annual stockholders' meeting, claiming, according to reports, that "management has refused them adequate information regarding the property. President E.P. Swenson denies that information has been thus withheld and states that the board, which represents the dominant interests, has no vacancies at the present time."

1928–1931 shareholder proxy fight

In 1928, shareholder and scion of one of the founding investment firms, John Langbourne Williams & Sons,

Langbourne Meade Williams, Jr. Langbourne Meade Williams Jr. (February 5, 1903 – September 8, 1994) was an American businessman.proxy fight for control of the company. In 1929, he then sought help from his former supervisor at Lee, Higginson & Co., J.T. Claiborne, who then enlisted clerk

John Hay Whitney John Hay Whitney (August 17, 1904 – February 8, 1982) was U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, publisher of the ''New York Herald Tribune'', and president of the Museum of Modern Art. He was a member of the Whitney family. Early life Whit ...

– who had become one of the wealthiest men in America following the 1927 death of his father, Payne Whitney. Williams eventually gained control of the company from founder Swenson, becoming its president in 1931, with Claiborne as a Vice-President, and Whitney as Chairman. Williams also served as Chairman during 1958–1967. Williams led the company's diversification, beginning with the purchase of manganese deposits in

Oriente Province Oriente (, "East") was the easternmost province of Cuba until 1976. The term "Oriente" is still used to refer to the eastern part of the country, which currently is divided into five different provinces. Fidel and Raúl Castro were born in a sm ...

, Cuba.

1930s

In 1932, Freeport Sulphur Company acquired the sulfur rights for Lake Grande Ecaille and vicinity in

Plaquemines Parish Plaquemines Parish (; French: ''Paroisse de Plaquemine'', Louisiana French: ''Paroisse des Plaquemines'', es, Parroquia de Caquis) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 23,515 at the 2020 census, the parish ...

, Louisiana, and escalated the development of sulfur deposits in the Grand Ecaille dome in 1933, still using the Frasch Process developed by Dr. Herman Frasch, who had, in 1895, enjoined the American Sulphur Company into a partnership, forming the Union Sulphur Company, to initiate the first successful sulfur mining at Grand Ecaille, with which Freeport, like other competitors, would compete upon expiry of the Frasch patents in 1908. From its earliest inception, sulfur mining was the catalyst that developed

Port Sulphur, Louisiana Port Sulphur is a census-designated place (CDP) on the West Bank of the Mississippi River in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, United States; at the 2020 census, it had a population of 1,677. Etymology The name for the CDP derives from the Freepo ...

1950s

The company produced nickel during World War II and potash in the 1950s. In 1955, Freeport Nickel invested $119 million, of which $100 million came from the U.S. government, into construction of a nickel- cobalt mine at Moa Bay, Cuba, and a refinery at Port Nickel, Louisiana. On March 11, 1957, the U.S. government announced a contract to buy nickel and cobalt from the company. In 1956, the company formed the Freeport Oil Company. In 1958, the company sold an oil discovery near Lake Washington in Louisiana for approximately $100 million to Magnolia Petroleum Company. In 1959, Freeport geologists confirmed the 1936 Dutch discovery of the rich Ertsberg copper and gold deposits, now known as the Grasberg mine, in extremely rugged, remote country in the Jayawijaya Mountains in what was then called the Netherlands New Guinea.

1960s

* In 1960,

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...

implemented a 25% ore tax, effectively nationalizing and seizing Freeport's nickel-mining operations in Cuba. * In 1961, the company entered the kaolin business after purchasing the assets of Southern Clays Inc. In 1964, the company formed Freeport of Australia to pursue mining opportunities there and in the surrounding Pacific Ocean region.

Development of the Ertsberg deposit

In 1967, the company negotiated a contract with the Indonesian government to develop the Ertsberg deposit. In their feasibility study, Freeport geologists estimated that the orebody totaled 33 million tons averaging 2.5% copper, making it the largest above-ground copper deposit ever discovered. Construction of an open pit mine began in May 1970 and in mid-1973 the mine was declared fully operational. Officials at

Bechtel Bechtel Corporation () is an American engineering, procurement, construction, and project management company founded in San Francisco, California, and headquartered in Reston, Virginia. , the ''Engineering News-Record'' ranked Bechtel as the sec ...

, the primary project contractor, called mine development at Ertsberg "the most difficult engineering project they had ever undertaken." The challenges included building a long access road (a project that required boring kilometer long tunnels through two mountains) and constructing the world's longest single span aerial tramway. The tramways were needed to move people, supplies and ore because a cliff separates the Ertsberg mine (at elevation) from the mill (at 10,000 feet). Moving copper concentrate from that mill to the shipping port required installation of a

slurry A slurry is a mixture of denser solids suspended in liquid, usually water. The most common use of slurry is as a means of transporting solids or separating minerals, the liquid being a carrier that is pumped on a device such as a centrifugal pu ...

pipeline Pipeline may refer to: Electronics, computers and computing * Pipeline (computing), a chain of data-processing stages or a CPU optimization found on ** Instruction pipelining, a technique for implementing instruction-level parallelism within a s ...

– then the world's longest. Mine construction and startup cost about US$200 million. The Ertsberg project was an engineering marvel, but the mine's early financial performance was disappointing. Depressed copper prices and high operating costs kept profits marginal during the 1970s. In 1969, McMoRan Exploration Company was founded, which, in 1981, would merge with Freeport Minerals, formerly Freeport Sulphur, to form Freeport-McMoRan.

1970s

In 1971, the company changed its name to Freeport Minerals Company, (not to be confused with Freeport Minerals Corporation, founded in 1834).

1980s

In 1981, Freeport Minerals Company merged with the McMoRan Oil and Gas Company. The McMoRan Oil and Gas Company was founded in 1967 by three partners, William Kennon McWilliams Jr. ("Mc"), James Robert (Jim Bob) Moffett ("Mo"), who were both

petroleum geologist A petroleum geologist is an earth scientist who works in the field of petroleum geology, which involves all aspects of oil discovery and production. Petroleum geologists are usually linked to the actual discovery of oil and the identification of po ...

s, and

Mack Rankin Byron McLean Rankin, Jr., nicknamed "Mack," was a prominent member in the Texas oil industry who became a part-owner of the Texas Rangers. Personal life Rankin was born in Mineola, Texas on January 8, 1930. He initially attended Kilgore Junior ...

("Ran"), "a specialist in land-leasing and sales operations." In 1981, the company formed a 70/30 joint venture with an affiliate of FMC Corporation to operate the Jerritt Canyon gold mine near

Elko, Nevada Elko (Shoshoni: Natakkoa, "Rocks Piled on One Another") is the largest city in and county seat of Elko County, Nevada, United States. With a 2020 population of 20,564, Elko is currently growing at a rate of 0.31% annually and its population has i ...

. In 1985, the company headquarters moved to New Orleans, Louisiana. The company also sold a 25% interest in oil and gas assets primarily in the western United States to Britoil for $73.5 million. In 1989, the company sold about $1.5 billion in assets to finance development of the Grasberg mine and the Main Pass offshore sulfur-oil-gas deposit off Louisiana.

1990s

In 1994, the company completed the corporate spin-off of its entire interest in Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, which owned the Grasberg mine. In 1995, RTZ, a predecessor of

Rio Tinto Group Rio Tinto Group is an Anglo-Australian Multinational corporation, multinational company that is the world's second-largest metals and mining corporation (behind BHP). The company was founded in 1873 when of a group of investors purchased a mine ...

made a $450 million investment in the company. In 1997, IMC Global, a large fertilizer producer, acquired Freeport-McMoRan Inc., the former parent company that now owned the sulfur and fertilizer businesses, in a $750 million transaction. Shareholders of Freeport-McMoRan received shares of IMC Global. The Indonesian government asked Freeport to substantiate Bre-X's claims of having found the largest gold mine ever discovered. In 1997, the company announced that its prospective partner Bre-X did not have gold reserves at its Indonesian mine, as it had reported. Bre-X subsequently was exposed as a fraud and went bankrupt. In 1998, low commodity prices forced the company to suspend its dividend.

2000s

In 2003, the company was subpoenaed as part of an investigation by anti-trust authorities in the United States, Canada, and Europe into price fixing in the copper industry. On March 19, 2007, the company acquired Phelps Dodge (for $25.9 Billion) and became the largest copper producer of any public company in the world. The corporate headquarters was moved from New Orleans, Louisiana to Phoenix, Arizona.

2010s

In 2012, the company announced agreements to acquire affiliated companies McMoRan Exploration Company and Plains Exploration & Production Company for a total enterprise value of over $20 billion. The transaction added significantly to the company's petroleum assets. The transaction was criticized as a

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

due to the common ownership of the companies. In 2015, the company paid a $137.5 million settlement to resolve claims that executives and directors had conflicts of interest that resulted in the company overpaying in that transaction. In 2014, the company sold its assets in the

Eagle Ford Ledbetter/Eagle Ford is a neighborhood in West Dallas, Texas, United States. Geography Eagle Ford is located at (32.7848517, -96.9008376). Adjacent areas Ledbetter Neighborhood Association * Ledbetter Gardens (east) * Westmoreland Heights (ea ...

shale to Encana for $3.1 billion. In 2015, the company announced job cuts at its Sierrita Mine in Arizona due to low copper and

prices. On December 28, 2015, the company announced that James R. Moffett would resign as chairman of the company and be replaced by

Gerald J. Ford Gerald J. Ford (born 1944) is an American attorney and businessman.

. Moffett received $16.1 million in severance pay and cash retirement plans totaling more than $63 million. Moffett continued to consult for the company for annual fees of $1.5 million. In May 2016, the company sold a 13% interest in its Morenci Mine to Sumitomo Group for $1 billion in cash. In 2016, Freeport sold its deepwater assets, including the Marlin TLP, and the Holstein and Horn Mountain spars, to Anadarko Petroleum. In August 2017, the company agreed to give a 51% interest in the Grasberg mine to the

Government of Indonesia The term Government of Indonesia ( id, Pemerintah Indonesia) can have a number of different meanings. At its widest, it can refer collectively to the three traditional branches of government – the executive branch, legislative branch and ju ...

and build a smelter in exchange for a special permit to operate the mine until 2041. In 2018, the company ranked at number 176 on the

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along ...

list. During this year, Indonesian President

Joko Widodo Joko Widodo (; born 21 June 1961), popularly known as Jokowi, is an Indonesian politician and businessman who is the 7th and current president of Indonesia. Elected in July 2014, he was the first Indonesian president not to come from an elite ...

also planned to take control of 51% of Freeport Indonesia's equity, effectively handing over control of Freeport Control to Indonesian government. The Indonesian government will need to settle payments of $3.85 billion during the takeover process. The Indonesian government finalized the process on December 21, 2018.

Current operations

Freeport is the world's largest producer of

, and one of the largest producers of copper. In 2019, 79% of its revenues were from the sale of copper, 11% were from the sale of gold, and 8% were from the sale of

. In 2019, sales to the company's copper refining joint venture in Gresik Regency accounted for 13% of the total revenues of the company. Some of the company's mining operations are as follows:

Africa

Freeport Cobalt held a 100% interest in Kisanfu, a copper and cobalt exploration project located near Tenke, Democratic Republic of the Congo. This subsidiary also owns a large cobalt refinery in Kokkola, Finland, along with a related sales and marketing business. FCX has an effective 56% of that enterprise. Negotiations in 2016 to include these cobalt projects in a sale to

China Molybdenum CMOC or CMOC Group Limited (), previously known as China Molybdenum Company Limited, is the largest molybdenum producer in Mainland China and among the world's largest companies in the field. It is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Sha ...

of Tenke Fungurume Mine, a cobalt/ copper mine in DRC Congo, were not successful. Instead, the Kisanfu mine was sold to China Molybdenum in a separate transaction in 2020.

Europe

In December 2019, Freeport Cobalt (a joint venture between Freeport-McMoRan and

Lundin Mining Lundin Mining Corporation is a Canadian company that owns and operates mines in Sweden, United States, Chile, Portugal and Brazil that produce base metals such as copper, zinc, and nickel. Headquartered in Toronto, the company was founded by Adolf ...

) sold its cobalt refinery in Kokkola, Finland to Umicore. FCX held an effective 56% interest in that enterprise.

North America

* Morenci, Arizona – 72% owned (copper) *

Bagdad, Arizona Bagdad is a copper mining community and census-designated place (CDP) in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States, in the western part of the state. It is one of only two remaining company towns in Arizona. The population was 1,876 at the 2010 ce ...

– 100% owned (copper, molybdenum) * Sierrita mine, Arizona (includes Twin Buttes & Esperanza) – 100% owned (copper, molybdenum) * Miami, Arizona – 100% owned (copper) * Safford mine,

Safford, Arizona Safford (Western Apache: Ichʼįʼ Nahiłtį́į́) is a city in Graham County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2020 Census, the population of the city is 10,129. The city is the county seat of Graham County. Safford is the principal ...

– 100% owned (copper) *

Chino mine The Chino Mine ("Chino" is Spanish for the "Chinese"), also known as the Santa Rita mine, also known as Santa Rita del Cobre, is an open-pit porphyry copper mine located in the town of Santa Rita, New Mexico east of Silver City. The mine was s ...

, Santa Rita, New Mexico – 100% owned (copper, molybdenum) *

Tyrone, New Mexico Tyrone is a census-designated place in Grant County, New Mexico, United States. Its population was 637 as of the 2010 census. Demographics Description Tyrone is located northeast of the original town of Tyrone, which was destroyed by mining ...

– 100% owned (copper) *

Henderson molybdenum mine The Henderson molybdenum mine is a large underground molybdenum mine west of the town of Empire, Colorado, Empire in Clear Creek County, Colorado, USA. The Henderson mine, which has produced molybdenum since 1976, is owned by Freeport-McMoRan. ...

, Empire, Colorado – 100% owned (molybdenum) *

Climax mine The Climax mine, located in Climax, Colorado, United States, is a major molybdenum mine in Lake County, Colorado, Lake and Summit County, Colorado, Summit counties, Colorado. Shipments from the mine began in 1915. At its highest output, the Clima ...

Leadville, Colorado The City of Leadville is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Statutory city, statutory city that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only List of municipalities in Colorado, incorporated municipality in Lake County, Colorad ...

– 100% owned (molybdenum)

South America

* El Abra, Chile – 51% owned (copper) *

Cerro Verde Cerro Verde is a Peru-based mining company. Its activities include the extraction, exploitation and production of copper from the porphyry copper deposit located southeast of the city of Arequipa. In addition, the company holds a copper sale agre ...

, Peru – 54% owned (copper, molybdenum)

Europe

* Atlantic Copper,

Huelva, Spain Huelva (, ) is a city in southwestern Spain, the capital of the Huelva (province), province of Huelva in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is between two short rias though has an outlying spur including n ...

– 100% owned copper refinery

Indonesia

Grasberg Grasberg is a municipality in the district of Osterholz, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 13 km southeast of Osterholz-Scharmbeck, and 20 km northeast of Bremen. History Before the cultivation and colonisation of ...

Papua province Papua is a province of Indonesia, comprising the northern coast of Western New Guinea together with island groups in Cenderawasih Bay to the west. It roughly follows the borders of Papuan customary region of Tabi Saireri. It is bordered by the ...

, Indonesia – 49% owned (copper, gold, silver)

Past holdings

* Jerritt Canyon mine, near

has produced over 8 million ounces of gold since 1981. Originally a joint venture of Freeport McMoRan (FCX) with FMC Corporation, then FMC Gold then Meridian Gold, Freeport's share of Jerritt Canyon was then sold to Independence Mining Co., a subsidiary of

Minorco The Minorco SA (Minerals and Resources Company) was a mining company based in Luxembourg. It was set up by the South African Anglo American Corporation in 1987 to hold its non-African, non-diamond mining operations. Although Minorco was quoted on ...

(an Anglo American Corporation subsidiary). Minorco later divested all its gold mining assets to AngloGold. AngloGold and Meridian Gold sold the mine to Queenstake Resources in 2003. In 2007 Queenstake and Yukon Gold Corp merged to become Yukon-Nevada Gold, which in 2012 became Veris Gold. Veris Gold operated under

U.S. Bankruptcy Code In the United States, bankruptcy is largely governed by federal law, commonly referred to as the "Bankruptcy Code" ("Code"). The United States Constitution (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 4) authorizes Congress to enact "uniform Laws on the sub ...

and the

Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act The ''Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act'' (CCAA; french: Loi sur les arrangements avec les créanciers des compagnies) is a statute of the Parliament of Canada that allows insolvent corporations owing their creditors in excess of $5 million to ...

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

protections of Canada from June 9, 2014. Sprott Mining bought the concern after the Canadian bankruptcy court ordered Veris to sell its assets. * In May 2016 Freeport announced an agreement to sell its interests in TF Holdings to

Co., Ltd. (CMOC) for $2.65 billion in cash and possibly more if the average copper price rose enough to trigger the increase in the following 24 months. TF Holdings was a Bermuda holding company with indirect ownership of 80% of Tenke Fungurume Mine. Since FCX had owned 70% ownership of TF Holdings, the sale gave China Molybdenum a 56% interest in Tenke Fungurume Mine. The parties discussed including Kokkola refinery and Kisanfu Exploration in the sale, but did not agree on the terms to do so. * In December 2020, Freeport completed the sale of its interests in the Kisanfu undeveloped project in Democratic Republic of Congo to a wholly owned subsidiary of China Molybdenum Co., Ltd. for US$550 million.

Past board members

Past board members include Henry Kissinger,

Robert A. Lovett Robert Abercrombie Lovett (September 14, 1895May 7, 1986) was the fourth United States Secretary of Defense, having been promoted to this position from Deputy Secretary of Defense. He served in the cabinet of President of the United States, Presi ...

Benno C. Schmidt Sr. Benno Charles Schmidt Sr. (January 10, 1913 – October 21, 1999) was an American lawyer and venture capitalist who was active in New York City civic affairs and played an important role in the initiation of the War on Cancer.

, Gus Long,

Arleigh Burke Arleigh Albert Burke (October 19, 1901 – January 1, 1996) was an admiral of the United States Navy who distinguished himself during World War II and the Korean War, and who served as Chief of Naval Operations during the Eisenhower and Kenne ...

J. Stapleton Roy James Stapleton Roy (; born June 16, 1935) is a former senior United States diplomat specializing in Asian affairs. A fluent Chinese speaker, Roy spent much of his career in East Asia, where his assignments included Bangkok Bangkok, official ...

, Godfrey Rockefeller and his cousin-in-law,

Jean Mauzé Jean Mauzé (January 15, 1903 – January 1974) was a Manhattan banker, senior vice president of United States Trust Company and married Abby Rockefeller on April 23, 1953. After his wife created the Greenacre Foundation in 1968, he donated Greena ...

Controversies

Safety Record

In 2011, Freeport was fined by the U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration over the death of a miner. The 67-year-old man had fallen into a hole created by the removal of two steel gratings. It was concluded that Freeport had not done enough to indicate that the hole was there.

Grasberg Mine

The company operates the world's largest and most profitable gold mine, the Grasberg mine in Papua, Indonesia. In 2003, a landslide killed eight workers. A government study concluded that the incident was the result of negligence. Important warning signs had been detected two days prior. In response to this, management moved some equipment, but did not keep workers out of the area. A month later two workers died from being exposed to sulfur fumes. The government ultimately overturned its conclusion and attributed the incident to natural causes. In 2005, The New York Times reported that the company paid local military and police generals, colonels, majors and captains, and military units, a total of nearly US$20 million between 1998 and 2004. One individual received up to US$150,000. The payments were meant to secure the reserve. The company responded that the payments did not go to individuals, but went into infrastructure, food, housing, fuel, travel, vehicle repairs, and allowances to cover incidental and administrative costs. According to the report, anonymous sources within the company claimed that company chairman James R. Moffet courted Indonesia's dictator

Suharto Suharto (; ; 8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian army officer and politician, who served as the second and the longest serving president of Indonesia. Widely regarded as a military dictator by international observers, Suharto ...

and "his cronies", cutting them in on deals. Another employee is said to have worked on a program to monitor environmentalists' telephone and email conversations, in collaboration with Indonesian military intelligence officers. The Grasberg mine's tailings "severely impacted" more than of rainforest, according to a 1996 Dames & Moore environmental audit. The report, endorsed by Freeport, also estimated that during the life of the mine 3.2 billion tons of waste rocklarge components of which generate

acid In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a sequ ...

would be dumped into the local river system. Overburden (waste rock) from the mine had already polluted a nearby lake due to acid mine drainage. Citing extensive, long-term and irreversible environmental damage in New Guinea, The Government Pension Fund of Norway excluded Freeport-McMoRan from its investment portfolio, following a recommendation from the fund's ethical council. In 2013, a tunnel collapse killed twenty eight workers. The Freeport geological team claimed that the collapse at the Big Gossan tunnel was caused by erosion of the ceiling, brought about by the continuous infiltration of the limestone wallrocks by corrosive acidic groundwater. Freeport was accused of negligence by the Indonesian National Human Rights Commission.

Human rights record in Indonesia

The company is a signatory participant of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights. However, the company has been accused of funding the Indonesian government to secure its reserve through militaristic oppression of the native West Papuan people. Freeport has had a troubled relationship with the Amungme and Kamoro peoples since it arrived in Indonesia in 1967. Freeport allegedly damaged 30.000 hectares of the rainforest and two major rivers, on which they depend for their food, water, livelihoods, and traditions. Pressured by cultural and economic deterioration, there were numerous quarrels, between the tribes, Freeport, and the Indonesian military. Some unarmed natives were killed or tortured by the military, or became part of the Free Papua Movement insurgence.

Environmental record

Based on 2014 data, the Political Economy Research Institute ranked Freeport-McMoRan 13th among corporations emitting airborne pollutants in the U.S. The ranking is based on emission quantities and toxicity. On October 15, 2009 the City of Blackwell filed suit against Freeport-McMoRan over the contamination caused by its Blackwell Zinc Smelter. The city considered the contamination a nuisance, and alleged that 58 million pounds of toxic waste remained in the city, causing illness within its 7,200 residents. The City of Blackwell and Freeport settled for $54M in February 2010. In 2012, Freeport agreed to a $119M settlement with the residents. On April 2012, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Freeport McMoran would pay $6.8M to settle federal and state charges pertaining to the toxic outflow from its Morenci mine in Arizona. According to the complaint waters, soils, habitats, and birds were either injured or lost as a result of the dangerous substances.

Carbon footprint

Freeport-McMoRan Inc reported Total CO2e emissions (Direct + Indirect) for the twelve months ending 31 December 2020 at 7,116 Kt (-653 /-8.4% y-o-y).Alt URL
/ref> Emissions have been on a declining trend since 2015.

References

External links

*
Earth Observatory Satellite Picture of Grasberg Mine"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freeport-Mcmoran Mining companies of the United States Copper mining companies of the United States Gold mining companies of the United States Oil companies of the United States Companies based in Phoenix, Arizona American companies established in 1912 Non-renewable resource companies established in 1912 1912 establishments in Texas Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange