Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) presented its long‑term growth roadmap at the Jefferies Global Industrials Conference on Sept. 10, 2026. Chief Executive Officer Kathleen Quirk highlighted a mix of operational recovery, new processing capacity and capital projects aimed at expanding copper output while maintaining a 50/50 split of discretionary cash flow between shareholder returns and investments.
The company reported $25.87 billion of revenue over the last twelve months, a return on equity of 15% and a price‑to‑earnings multiple of 34.7, with a PEG ratio of 0.68. Current copper prices were cited around $6.50 per pound, down roughly $0.30 recently, while conventional U.S. mining costs sit near $3 per pound. Leaching technology could lower costs to about $1 per pound, and a potential 45X tax credit may deliver roughly $500 million in annual savings, equivalent to a 10% reduction in production costs.
In Indonesia, the Grasberg underground operation is progressing toward full recovery after a fatal incident in 2024. The mine is slated to reach about 65% of capacity in the second half of 2024, 80% by mid‑2025 and near‑full output by the end of 2027. A new copper smelter, commissioned two weeks before the conference, reduces dependence on third‑party processing, and the Indonesian government retains roughly 70% of the mine’s generated value.
U.S. assets account for roughly one‑third of Freeport’s total production, supplying about 70% of refined copper in the United States. The Morenci mine remains the largest copper mine in North America, while the Bagdad operation in Arizona has become the first U.S. mine to deploy autonomous haul trucks.
A key growth lever is the leaching initiative, which targets 40 billion pounds of stockpiled copper material across the United States, Chile and Peru. Current leach output stands at 200 million pounds annually; the company aims to lift this to 800 million pounds per year, a 600 million‑pound increase. New proprietary chemical additives are expected from late 2024 to early 2027.
The Bagdad expansion, described as shovel‑ready and free of material permitting, could proceed within three years of board approval, anticipated before the end of 2024. The project is economically viable at copper prices as low as $4 per pound. Combined with the leaching program, Freeport projects a potential 60% rise in U.S. copper production over the next three to four years.
Quirk emphasized the company’s efforts to de‑risk operations after the Grasberg incident, noting the emotional impact of the seven worker fatalities. She described the leaching opportunity as unprecedented in the capital‑intensive mining sector, suggesting conventional methods would require “billions and billions of dollars.”
