Freeport-McMoRan#Cuban-American Manganese Corporation

Image:Freeport Sulphur No. 6.jpg, harbor, 1923]]

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 mining at Bryan Mound salt dome, along the US Gulf Coast.[https://books.google.com/books?id=kRFGAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA760 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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/freeport-tx-brazoria-county |last1=Kleiner|first1=Diana J.|date=22 October 2020|accessdate=22 January 2021|publisher=Texas State Historical Association |location=Austin, TX |title=Freeport, TX (Brazoria County)}}{{cite book |last1=Haynes |first1=Williams |title=Brimstone, The Stone That Burns: The Story Of The Frasch Sulphur Industry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9jY8nwEACAAJ&q=Brimstone,+The+Stone+That+Burns+%22isbn%22 |date=1959 |publisher=D. Van Norstrand Company, Inc. |location=Princeton, N.J. |pages=75–85|isbn=9781494093143 }}

Freeport mined sulfur along the Gulf Coast using the Frasch Process, the patents for which had expired in 1908,{{Cite web|url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/sulfur-industry|last1=Kleiner|first1=Diana J.|date=27 April 2019|accessdate=22 January 2021|publisher=Texas State Historical Association |location=Austin, TX |title=Sulfur Industry}} a disruptive innovation for the automated mining of previously inaccessible sulphur deposits at a cost lower than that of established mines, where manual labor gained the mineral under the most appalling conditions. Previously, Union Sulphur Company founder and patent-holder Herman Frasch had enjoyed a monopoly on the process.[https://books.google.com/books?id=nLDOCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT204 Hazleton, Jared] "The Economics of the Sulphur Industry'', Routledge, 2016, p. 204. The Bryan Mound salt dome just south of Freeport became the second Frasch sulphur mine in the world in 1912.

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Enterprise to support Freeport Sulphur's business and the new town's infrastructure led to the incorporation of a holding company on September 30, 1913, to join the newer assets with Freeport Sulphur and create a vertically integrated mining company around, at first, a single sulphur mine. Officers of the new holding company, Freeport Texas Company, were:

• Eric. P. Swenson, President and Director (Freeport Sulphur founder, son of Swante M. Swenson)
• 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 and his third wife, Mary Ellen Smith)
• Directors
• Eric P. Swenson
• Edward E. Dickinson
• Richard H. Williams (son of Richard H. Williams)
• Harry K. Knapp
• Samuel McRoberts
• Charles P. Northrop
• Charles A. Stone
• Frank A. Vanderlip
• Sidell Tilghman (son of General Lloyd Tilghman)
• Eppa Hunton Jr. (son of late Virginia Senator, Brig. Gen. Eppa Hunton)
• Charles E. Herrmann{{cite news |newspaper=The Commercial and Financial Chronicle |date=3 April 1920 |page=1418 |title=Freeport Texas Co. - Proxies Sought |url=http://archive.org/details/sim_commercial-and-financial-chronicle_1920-04-03_110_2858/page/1418/mode/1up?q=%22Freeport%20Texas%22}}

On May 7, 1917 all 35,000 outstanding shares were exchanged for 500,000 new shares of no par value (at a rate of {{frac|14|2|7}}:1). Freeport raised an additional $4 million with an April 1, 1922 issue of convertible bonds, almost all of which were converted to common stock right away. Of the new total of 732,000 authorized shares 729,844 were then outstanding.{{efn|Freeport raised additional cash from investors during April 1922, giving each shareholder the right to subscribe to $8 of a bond issue for each share they held. The $4 million 7% 15-year bonds dated Apr 1, 1922 were issued on occasion of the signing of the Hoskins Mound contract with Texaco and the resumption of operations at Bryan Mound after a year of pause and were convertible to common stock at any time, 29 shares for each $500 of the bonds with the exchange ratio decreasing per quarter to a final 17 shares per $500 after May 1, 1923.{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Commercial and Financial Chronicle |volume=114 |issue=2965 |date=22 April 1922 |title=Freeport Texas Co. Bond Subscription Rights |page=1770 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_commercial-and-financial-chronicle_1922-04-22_114_2965/page/1770/mode/1up?q=%22Freeport%20Texas%22}} On Dec 31, 1924 729,844 of the 732,000 authorized shares were outstanding,{{cite book |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951002249057l&seq=1053 |page=949 |title=Poor's Industrial Section Vol 1 A-J |date=1925}} almost the entire bond issue was subscribed to and converted at the high ratio. Freeport had thus raised almost $4 million at a little over $17 per share.{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Commercial and Financial Chronicle |volume=115 |issue=2981 |date=12 August 1922 |quote=July 31, 1922 bonds converted, $3,889,000 |title=Freeport Texas Co. - Report |page=765 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_commercial-and-financial-chronicle_1922-08-12_115_2981/page/765/mode/1up?q=%22freeport%20texas%22}}}} In 1933, the no par common stock was exchanged for $10 par common and $2,500,000 convertible preferred were issued to finanace the development of Grande Ecaille, about half of which was converted, the remainder called for redemption in 1938 at the end of which 796,380 common shares were outstanding.{{efn|In Feb 1933 25,000 shares of par $100 convertible{{efn|each preferred share convertible to {{frac|3|1|3}} common shares on or before Feb 1, 1938 and 2.5 common shares thereafter and on or before Feb 1, 1945}} preferred stock were issued to finance the development of Grande Ecaille. The 729,844 no par shares with a book value of $10.0336 were exchanged for an equal amount of par $10 common shares (the difference added to surplus) and the authorized capital was increased by (1) 83,334 shares to provide headroom for the conversion of the preferred and (2) authority to issue 36,822 shares{{efn|36,822 includes the 732,000-729,844 that were previously unissued}} for other purposes subject to Board approval, resulting in a new total of 850,000 authorized par $10 shares.{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Commercial and Financial Chronicle |volume=136 |issue=3531 |date=25 February 1933 |title=Freeport Texas Co. - Listing of 6% Cum. Conv. Pref. Stock and Common Stock of $10 Par Value |page=1382 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_commercial-and-financial-chronicle_1933-02-25_136_3531/page/1382/mode/1up?q=%22Freeport%20Texas%22}}{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Commercial and Financial Chronicle |volume=136 |issue=3528 |date=4 February 1933 |title=Freeport Texas Co. - $2,500,000 Pref. Stock Issue Oversubscribed |page=849 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_commercial-and-financial-chronicle_1933-02-04_136_3528/page/849/mode/1up?q=%22Freeport%20Texas%20Co%22}} In 1933 54,747 common shares were issued as a result of conversion.{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Commercial and Financial Chronicle |volume=138 |issue=3577 |date=13 January 1934 |title=Industrial Stocks Listed First and Second Six Months of 1933 |page=218 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_commercial-and-financial-chronicle_1934-01-13_138_3577/page/218/mode/1up?q=%22Freeport%20Texas%20Co%20common%22}} The company used cash to redeem on March 15, 1938 all 12,301 remaining 6% convertible preferred shares{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Commercial and Financial Chronicle |volume=146 |issue=3787 |date=22 January 1938 |title=Freeport Sulphur Co. - Earnings |page=597 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_commercial-and-financial-chronicle_1938-01-22_146_3787/page/597/mode/1up?q=%2212%2C301%20outstanding%22}} (on Dec 31, 1938 there were 796,380 common shares outstanding{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Commercial and Financial Chronicle |volume=150 |issue=3911 |date=8 June 1940 |title=Freeport Sulphur Co. - Earnings |page=3660 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_commercial-and-financial-chronicle_1940-06-08_150_3911/page/3660/mode/1up?q=%22Freeport%20Sulphur%22}}).}} To raise general working capital Freeport Sulphur in 1939 sold $3,000,000 in 3% 20-year private debentures to Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. and Sun Life Insurance Co. of Canada.{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Commercial and Financial Chronicle |volume=149 |issue=3876 |date=7 October 1939 |title=Freeport Sulphur Co. - Sells $3,000,000 Debentures Privately |page=2230 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_commercial-and-financial-chronicle_1939-10-07_149_3876/page/2230/mode/1up?q=%22Freeport%20Sulphur%22}} On September 1, 1951 the 99th consecutive quarterly dividend was paid. Effective September 21, 1951 the 800,000 outstanding common shares were split 3-for-1 and the authorized capital was increased from 850,000 to 3,000,000 shares.{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Commercial and Financial Chronicle |volume=174 |issue=5049 |date=24 September 1951 |title=Freeport Sulphur Co. - Stock Split Approved |page=8 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_commercial-and-financial-chronicle_1951-09-24_174_5049/page/8/mode/1up?q=%22Freeport%20Sulphur%22}}{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Commercial and Financial Chronicle |volume=174 |issue=5033 |date=30 July 1951 |title=Freeport Sulphur Co. - Increases Quarterly Dividend - Plans Stock Split - Earnings Higher |page=365 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_commercial-and-financial-chronicle_1951-07-30_174_5033/page/365/mode/1up?q=%22Freeport%20Sulphur%22}}

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."{{cite news |newspaper=The Commercial and Financial Chronicle |date=3 April 1920 |page=1418 |title=Freeport Texas Co. - Proxies sought |url=http://archive.org/details/sim_commercial-and-financial-chronicle_1920-04-03_110_2858/page/1418/mode/1up?q=%22Freeport%20Texas%22}}{{importance inline|date=March 2025}}

In 1928, shareholder and scion of one of the founding investment firms, John Langbourne Williams & Sons, Langbourne Meade Williams, Jr. launched a 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 – who had become one of the wealthiest men in America following the 1927 death of his father, Payne Whitney.[https://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/09/obituaries/john-hay-whitney-dies-at-77-publisher-led-in-many-fields.html?pagewanted=all NYTimes] "John Hay Whitney Dies at 77; Publisher Led in Many Fields", New York Times, February 9, 1982. 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.{{cite news|title=John Hay Whitney Elevated.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B02EFDF1E3DE33ABC4C51DFB566838F629EDE&legacy=true|access-date=1 December 2016|work=The New York Times|date=24 March 1934}}{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/14/obituaries/langbourne-williams-is-dead-retired-businessman-was-91.html | title=Langbourne Williams Is Dead; Retired Businessman Was 91 | first=John | last=Holusha | work=The New York Times | date=September 14, 1994}}[https://archive.org/details/assassinationspr00jame Peas, L, et al] The assassinations: Probe magazine on JFK, MLK, RFK and Malcolm X, by James DiEugenio, Lisa Pease and Judge Joe Brown, 2003. {{ISBN|0922915822}}.

Williams led the company's diversification, beginning with the purchase of manganese deposits in Oriente Province, Cuba.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O4rzzkUQyzIC&pg=PA107|title=Sulfur: History, Technology, Applications & Industry|first=Gerald|last=Kutney|date=September 12, 2007|publisher=ChemTec Publishing|isbn=9781895198379|via=Google Books}}

The company announced on February 19, 1931 the acquisition of a controlling interest in the Cuban American Manganese Corporation. Most of the metal was gained by concentration of low grade ore. The company benefited from (was subsidized by) zero import duty at a time when duties were high despite the United States reliance on imports for most of its supply of manganese. The deposit was depleted and the company dissolved in 1947.

In 1932, Freeport Sulphur Company acquired the sulfur rights for Lake Grande Ecaille and vicinity in Plaquemines 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.[https://www.sulphur.org/egov/apps/document/center.egov?view=item;id=252 City of Sulphur] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804113839/https://www.sulphur.org/egov/apps/document/center.egov?view=item;id=252 |date=2020-08-04 }} "History of Sulphur". Retrieved October 11, 2018. From its earliest inception, sulfur mining was the catalyst that developed Port Sulphur, Louisiana.[https://books.google.com/books?id=eOPcB-gdC9QC&pg=PA49 Culbertson, Manie] Louisiana: The Land and Its People, Pelican Publishing, 1998, p. 49. Retrieved October 11, 2018.

Effective January 1, 1937 the Freeport Texas Company changed its name to Freeport Sulphur Company (the old one was dissolved) and its character from a holding company to an operating company,{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Commercial and Financial Chronicle |volume=143 |issue=3729 |date=12 December 1936 |title=Freeport Texas Co. - Changes Name - Reduces Capital |page=3841 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_commercial-and-financial-chronicle_1936-12-12_143_3729/page/3841/mode/1up?q=%22Freeport%20Texas%20Co%22}} likely as a response to the Revenue Act of 1936 to avoid double taxation.{{cite news |newspaper=National Petroleum News |volume=28 |issue=52 |date=23 December 1936 |title=Dissolve Holding Company |page=45 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_npn-national-petroleum-news_1936-12-23_28_52/page/45/mode/1up?q=%22Pan%20American%20Foreign%22}} On this occasion all active subsidiaries except the Cuban-American Manganese Corp were liquidated.{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Commercial and Financial Chronicle |volume=146 |issue=3795 |date=19 March 1938 |title=Freeport Sulphur Co. - Annual Report |page=1876 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_commercial-and-financial-chronicle_1938-03-19_146_3795/page/1876/mode/1up?q=%22At%20the%20end%20of%201936%22}}

Freeport announced on March 7, 1952 the development of 3 new sulphur mines at an estimated cost of $20 million, to be financed from accrued cash reserves, as part of the national defense industrial mobilization program (Korea War). This included the Nash deposit, known to be a minor one, but made viable by the economic conditions.{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Commercial and Financial Chronicle |volume=175 |issue=5099 |date=17 March 1952 |title=Freeport Sulphur Co. - Spending $20,000,000 on New Brimstone Projects - Third New Mine Planned |page=3 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_commercial-and-financial-chronicle_1952-03-17_175_5099/page/3/mode/1up?q=%22Freeport%20Sulphur%20Co.%22}}

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.{{Cite web|url=http://www.estainlesssteel.com/nickel-in-cuba.shtml|title=Moa Bay Cuba – Nickel Mine Sherritt International|website=www.estainlesssteel.com}}{{Cite journal|url=https://doi.org/10.1021/cen-v038n011.p023|title=Freeport Closes Shop in Cuba|date=March 14, 1960|journal=Chemical & Engineering News Archive|volume=38|issue=11|pages=23–25|via=ACS Publications|doi=10.1021/cen-v038n011.p023}}

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.{{Cite web|url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/freeport-mcmoran-copper-gold-inc-history/|title=History of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, Inc. – FundingUniverse|website=www.fundinguniverse.com}}

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.{{cite news | url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/1995-11-10/530065/ | title=Freeport McMoRan: A Timeline | work=The Austin Chronicle | date=November 10, 1995}}

• In 1960, Fidel Castro implemented a 25% ore tax, effectively nationalizing and seizing Freeport's nickel-mining operations in Cuba.[https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/14/obituaries/langbourne-williams-is-dead-retired-businessman-was-91.html Holusha, John] "Langbourne Williams Is Dead; Retired Businessman Was 91", New York Times, September 14, 1994.
• 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.

{{main|Grasberg mine}}

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.{{Cite web|url=http://www.library.ohiou.edu/indopubs/1997/06/16/0007.html|title=Opening the Ertsberg District|access-date=2008-07-24|archive-date=2016-03-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305065102/https://www.library.ohiou.edu/indopubs/1997/06/16/0007.html|url-status=dead}} Construction of an open pit mine began in May 1970 and in mid-1973 the mine was declared fully operational. Officials at Bechtel, the primary project contractor, called mine development at Ertsberg "the most difficult engineering project they had ever undertaken." The challenges included building a {{convert|101|km|adj=on}} 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 {{convert|2000|ft|adj=on}} cliff separates the Ertsberg mine (at {{convert|12000|ft|m}} elevation) from the mill (at 10,000 feet). Moving copper concentrate from that mill to the shipping port required installation of a {{convert|109|km|adj=on}} slurry pipeline – 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 1967 The McMoRan Oil and Gas Company was founded by three partners, William Kennon McWilliams Jr. ("Mc"), James Robert (Jim Bob) Moffett ("Mo"), who were both petroleum geologists, and Mack Rankin ("Ran"), a specialist in land-leasing and sales operations.{{cite book |title=International directory of company histories |date=1991 |publisher=St. James Press |location=Detroit, MI |isbn=9781558620605 |page=83 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c3kRAQAAMAAJ|first1=Adéle |last1=Hast |access-date=8 April 2020}} In 1981, McMoRan would merge with Freeport Minerals, formerly Freeport Sulphur, to form Freeport-McMoRan.

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

On April 7, 1981 Freeport Minerals Company merged with the McMoRan Oil and Gas Company.{{cite book |title=Financial Times Mining International Year Book 1992 |publisher=Longman Group UK Ltd |date=1992 |page=170 |url=https://archive.org/details/financialtimesmi0000unse/page/170/mode/1up}}

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.{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/22/business/a-gold-rush-in-nevada-s-hills-is-spurred-by-new-technonlgy.html

| title=A Gold Rush in Nevada's Hills is Spurred by New Technology

| work=The New York Times

| date=April 22, 1981

}}

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.{{cite news |title=Freeport-McMoRan will acquire Midlands Energy |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/09/13/Freeport-McMoRan-will-acquire-Midlands-Energy/3854463896000/ |access-date=13 February 2020 |work=United Press International |date=13 September 1984}}

{{cite news

| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/21/business/freeport-britoil.html

| title=Freeport-Britoil

| work=The New York Times

| date=March 21, 1985

}}

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.

{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/18/business/company-news-freeport-mcmoran-is-selling-more-assets.html

| title=Freeport-McMoran Is Selling More Assets

| agency=Reuters

| work=The New York Times

| date=December 18, 1990

}}

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, made a $450 million investment in the company.{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/13/business/shares-sold-in-mining-unit.html | title=Shares Sold in Mining Unit | work=The New York Times | date=May 13, 1995}}

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.{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/29/business/imc-to-buy-freeport-mcmoran-inc-for-750-million.html | title=IMC to Buy Freeport-McMoran Inc. for $750 Million | first=Allen R. | last=Myerson | work=The New York Times | date=July 29, 1997}}

In 1997, the Indonesian government asked Freeport-McMoRan to substantiate the Canadian mining company Bre-X's claims of having found the largest gold mine ever discovered, in Borneo. Freeport 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.{{cite news | url=https://money.cnn.com/1997/05/05/companies/brex/ | title=No gold at Bre-X site | work=CNN | date=May 5, 1997}}

In 1998, low commodity prices forced the company to suspend its dividend.{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/10/business/freeport-drops-dividend.html | title=Freeport Drops Dividend | agency=Reuters | work=The New York Times | date=December 10, 1998}}

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.{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/15/business/us-europe-and-canada-investigate-copper-pricing.html | title=U.S., Europe and Canada Investigate Copper Pricing | first=Paul | last=Meller | work=The New York Times | date=May 15, 2003}}

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.

{{cite press release

| url=http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20061119005066/en/Freeport-McMoRan-Copper-Gold-Acquire-Phelps-Dodge-Creating

| title=Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold to Acquire Phelps Dodge, Creating the World's Largest Publicly Traded Copper Company

| publisher=Business Wire

| date=November 19, 2006

}}

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.{{cite press release | url=http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20121205005855/en/Freeport-McMoRan-Copper-Gold-Acquire-Plains-Exploration-Production

| title=Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. to Acquire Plains Exploration & Production Company and McMoRan Exploration Co. in Transactions Totaling $20 Billion, Creating a Premier U.S. Based Natural Resource Company

| publisher=PR Newswire

| date=December 5, 2012

}}

The transaction was criticized as a conflict of interest due to the common ownership of the companies.

{{cite news

| url=https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/12/05/freeports-deals-epitomize-industrys-conflicts-of-interest/

| title=Freeport's Deals Epitomize Industry's Conflicts of Interest

| first1=Christopher

| last1=Swann

| first2=Kevin

| last2=Allison

| work=The New York Times

| date=December 5, 2012 |url-access=subscription

}}

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.

{{cite news

| url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-freeportmcmoran-settlement/freeport-mcmoran-in-137-5-million-settlement-over-purchases-idUSKBN0KO1S520150115

| title=Freeport-McMoRan in $137.5 million settlement over purchases

| first=Jonathan

| last=Stempel

| work=Reuters

| date=January 15, 2015

}}

In 2014, the company sold its assets in the Eagle Ford shale to Encana for $3.1 billion.

{{cite press release

| url=http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140507005726/en/Freeport-McMoRan-Announces-Agreement-Sell-Eagle-Ford-Interests

| title=Freeport-McMoRan Announces Agreement to Sell Eagle Ford Interests for $3.1 Billion

| publisher=Business Wire

| date=May 7, 2014

}}

In 2015, the company announced job cuts at its Sierrita Mine in Arizona due to low copper and molybdenum prices.{{cite news

| url=http://www.kvoa.com/story/30329919/freeport-mcmoran-announces-460-jobs-lost-at-sierrita-mine

| title=Freeport-McMoRan announces 460 jobs lost at Sierrita Mine

| work=News 4 Tucson

| date=November 5, 2015

| access-date=March 21, 2016

| archive-date=February 28, 2018

| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180228223448/http://www.kvoa.com/story/30329919/freeport-mcmoran-announces-460-jobs-lost-at-sierrita-mine

| url-status=dead

}}

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. 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.

{{cite news

| url=http://www.azcentral.com/story/money/business/2015/12/28/moffett-resigns-freeport-mcmoran-chairman/77971352/

| title=Moffett resigns as Freeport-McMoRan chairman

| first=Russ

| last=Wiles

| work=The Arizona Republic

| date=December 28, 2015

}}

In May 2016, the company sold a 13% interest in its Morenci Mine to Sumitomo Group for $1 billion in cash.

{{cite press release

| url=http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160531006007/en/Freeport-McMoRan-Completes-Sale-13-Interest-Morenci-1.0

| title=Freeport-McMoRan Completes Sale of 13% Interest in Morenci Mine for $1.0 Billion in Cash

| publisher=Business Wire

| date=May 31, 2016

}}

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 and build a smelter in exchange for a special permit to operate the mine until 2041.

{{cite news

| url=https://www.ft.com/content/9c6614d4-8c94-11e7-a352-e46f43c5825d |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/9c6614d4-8c94-11e7-a352-e46f43c5825d |archive-date=2022-12-10 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live

| title=Indonesia takes majority stake in Freeport-McMoRan copper mine

| first=Henry

| last=Sanderson

| work=Financial Times

| date=August 29, 2017

}}

{{cite news

| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/29/business/indonesia-freeport-mcmoran-grasberg-deal-majority.html

| title=Freeport to Give Indonesia a Majority Stake in Its Grasberg Mine

| first=Jon

| last=Emont

| work=The New York Times

| date=August 29, 2017 |url-access=subscription

}}

{{cite news

| url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/freeport-to-give-up-majority-stake-in-grasberg-mine-under-deal-with-indonesia-1503981573

| title=Freeport to Give Up Majority Stake in Indonesia's Grasberg Mine

| first=Anita

| last=Rachman

| work=The Wall Street Journal

| date=August 29, 2017 |url-access=subscription

}}

In 2018, the company ranked at number 176 on the Fortune 500 list.{{Cite web|url=http://fortune.com/fortune500/freeport-mcmoran/|title=Freeport-McMoRan|website=Fortune|language=en-US|access-date=2018-11-22|archive-date=2018-11-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181122073346/http://fortune.com/fortune500/freeport-mcmoran/|url-status=dead}} During this year, Indonesian President Joko Widodo also planned to take control of 51% of Freeport Indonesia's equity, effectively handing over Freeport control to the Indonesian government. The Indonesian government planned to settle payments of $3.85 billion during the takeover process.{{Cite web|url=http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/09/30/freeport-divestment-to-be-completed-by-end-of-this-year-jokowi.html|title=Freeport divestment to be completed by end of this year: Jokowi|website=The Jakarta Post|language=en|access-date=2018-12-13}} The Indonesian government finalized the process on December 21, 2018.{{Cite web|url=https://finance.detik.com/energi/d-4332388/freeport-kembali-ke-pangkuan-ibu-pertiwi-pertengahan-desember-2018|title=Freeport Kembali ke Pangkuan Ibu Pertiwi Pertengahan Desember 2018?|last=Kusuma|first=Hendra|website=detikfinance|access-date=2018-12-13}}

File:Jokowi Freeport.jpg

Freeport is the world's largest producer of molybdenum, and one of the largest producers of copper.{{cite web | url=https://s22.q4cdn.com/529358580/files/doc_financials/10-K/10_k2019.pdf | title=Freeport-McMoRan 2019 Form 10-K Annual Report|page=5|date=15 February 2019|access-date=21 February 2020}} 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 molybdenum. 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:

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 of Tenke Fungurume Mine, a cobalt/copper mine in DRC Congo, were not successful.{{cite news|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mining-bmo-freeport/miner-freeport-says-no-plans-to-sell-congo-cobalt-asset-as-buyers-circle-idUSKCN1GA1W1 |title=Miner Freeport says no plans to sell Congo cobalt asset as buyers circle |author=Nicole Mordan |date=February 26, 2018}}{{cite press release |url=https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/831259/000083125916000069/exhibit99105-09x2016.htm |publisher=US Securities and Exchange Commission |author=Freeport McMoRan |work=[EX-99.1 3 exhibit99105-09x2016.htm Exhibit 99.1] |title=Freeport-McMoRan Announces Agreements to Sell its Interests in TF Holdings Limited for $2.65 Billion in Cash and Up to $120 Million in Contingent Consideration; and to Enter Exclusive Negotiations for the Sale of its Interests in Freeport Cobalt and Kisanfu Exploration Project for $150 Million |date=May 9, 2016 }} Instead, the Kisanfu mine was sold to China Molybdenum in a separate transaction in 2020.{{cite web | title=China Moly buys 95% of DRC copper-cobalt mine from Freeport for $550 million | website=Reuters | date=2020-12-13 | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/cmoc-congo-m-a-idINKBN28N0D9 | access-date=2022-06-05}}

In December 2019, Freeport Cobalt (a joint venture between Freeport-McMoRan and Lundin Mining) sold its cobalt refinery in Kokkola, Finland to Umicore. FCX held an effective 56% interest in that enterprise.{{cite news |title=Freeport-McMoran and Lundin complete Finland refinery sale |url=https://m.miningweekly.com/article/freeport-mcmoran-and-lundin-complete-finland-refinery-sale-2019-12-02/rep_id:3861 |access-date=8 April 2020 |work=Mining Weekly |publisher=Creamer Media |date=2 December 2019 |location=Johannesburg, South Africa}}

Arizona

• Bagdad, Arizona – 100% owned (copper, molybdenum)
• Miami, Arizona – 100% owned (copper)
• Morenci, Arizona – 72% owned (copper)
• Safford mine, Safford, Arizona – 100% owned (copper)
• Sierrita mine, Arizona (includes Twin Buttes & Esperanza) – 100% owned (copper, molybdenum)

Colorado

• Climax mine, Leadville, Colorado – 100% owned (molybdenum)
• Henderson molybdenum mine, Empire, Colorado – 100% owned (molybdenum)

New Mexico

• Chino mine, Santa Rita, New Mexico – 100% owned (copper, molybdenum)
• Tyrone, New Mexico – 100% owned (copper)

• El Abra, Chile – 51% owned (copper){{cite web |title=El Abra |url=https://www.fcx.com/operations/south-america#el_abra_link |website=Freeport-McMoRan |access-date=8 April 2020}}
• Cerro Verde, Peru – 54% owned (copper, molybdenum)

• Atlantic Copper, Huelva, Spain – 100% owned copper refinery{{cite news |last1=Desai |first1=Pratima |title=Atlantic Copper green credentials recognised by Spain's BBVA |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/metals-lmeweek-atlanticcopper/lmeweek-atlantic-copper-green-credentials-recognised-by-spains-bbva-idUSL8N27E63K |access-date=8 April 2020 |work=Reuters |date=30 October 2019}}

• Grasberg, Central Papua, Indonesia – 49% owned (copper, gold, silver)

{{see also|Frasch process#List of Mines}}

A first demonstration run began on November 19, 1912, but the plant was quickly shut down again for adjustments.{{cite magazine |magazine=The Engineering and Mining Journal |volume=95 |issue=2 |date=11 January 1913 |title=Chronology of Mining in 1912 |page=89 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_engineering-and-mining-journal_1913-01-11_95_2/page/6/mode/1up?q=%22Freeport%20Sulphur%22}}{{cite magazine |magazine=The Engineering and Mining Journal |volume=95 |issue=2 |date=11 January 1913 |title=Increased Sulphur Output |page=96 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_engineering-and-mining-journal_1913-01-11_95_2/page/n47/mode/1up?q=%22Freeport%20Sulphur%22}} Operations were unsteady throughout 1913. In December one shipment of 730 tons was made to New York and the plant produced about 200{{cite magazine |magazine=The Engineering and Mining Journal |volume=97 |issue=8 |date=21 February 1914 |title=Sulphur in 1913 |page=432 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_engineering-and-mining-journal_1914-02-21_97_8/page/432/mode/1up?q=%22Freeport%20Sulphur%22}} tons per week.{{cite magazine |magazine=The Engineering and Mining Journal |volume=97 |issue=3 |date=17 January 1914 |title=Sulphur in 1913 |page=165 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_engineering-and-mining-journal_1914-01-17_97_3/page/165/mode/1up?q=%22Freeport%20Sulphur%22}} The Bryan Mound was 25 feet tall. Five different companies had drilled about 16 holes into the mound in the search for oil, but found no hydrocarbons in commercially viable quantities and attached no value to the sulphur they encountered under the given conditions. During two years of prospecting and with total of $150,000 expended, the Freeport Sulphur syndicate drilled 11 holes, each of them showing sulphur at between 760 feet and 1,100 feet in the form of sulphur bearing limestone, dolomite and gypsum with some beds of pure sulphur up to 7 feet thick. The deposit was carried at a bit below $30,000,000 of estimated value in the 1918 balance sheet. Bryan Mound production was not entirely continuous. To reduce stockpiles, work was suspended from April 1, 1921{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Commercial and Financial Chronicle |volume=114 |issue=2961 |date=25 March 1922 |title=Freeport Texas Co. - New Bond Issue Proposed - Contract with Texas Co. for Sulphur Properties |page=1291 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_commercial-and-financial-chronicle_1922-03-25_114_2961/page/1291/mode/1up?q=%22Freeport%20Texas%22}} untill May 1922{{cite magazine |magazine=The Engineering and Mining Journal |volume=113 |issue=20 |date=20 May 1922 |title=Freport Sulphur Co. Resumes Work at Bryan Mound |page=883 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_engineering-and-mining-journal_1922-05-20_113_20/page/883/mode/1up?q=%22bryan%20mound%22}} and then again from January 31, 1924{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Commercial and Financial Chronicle |volume=118 |issue=3057 |date=26 January 1924 |title=Freeport Texas (Sulphur) Co. - Operations Suspended |page=437 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_commercial-and-financial-chronicle_1924-01-26_118_3057/page/437/mode/1up?q=%22Bryan%20Mound%22}} to May 15, 1925.{{cite book |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951002249057l&seq=1055 |page=951 |title=Poor's Industrial Section Vol 1 A-J |date=1925}}{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Drug and Chemical Markets |volume=16 |issue=17 |date=29 April 1925 |title=The Heavy Chemical Market |page=1255 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_drug-and-chemical-markets_1925-04-29_16_17/page/1255/mode/1up?q=%22Bryan%20Mound%22}} During production periods not all of the plants were necessarily in operation.{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Chemical Markets |volume=19 |issue=4 |date=3 June 1926 |title=Freeport Sulphur Output Highest in April |page=162 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_chemical-week_1926-06-03_19_4/page/n5/mode/1up?q=%22Bryan%20Mound%22}} The four plants were built by Westinghouse, Church, Kerr & Co and together were considered to be among the largest oil burning installations in the world.{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Commercial and Financial Chronicle |volume=114 |issue=2963 |date=8 April 1922 |title=Dwight P. Robinson & Co., Inc - New Contract |page=1543 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_commercial-and-financial-chronicle_1922-04-08_114_2963/page/1543/mode/1up?q=%22Freeport%20Texas%22}}

Freeport Sulphur Co. was also prospecting for oil at Bryan Mound. They found a (decomposing) tree in January 1919 at a record-candidate depth of 2,883ft.{{cite magazine |magazine=The Oil and Gas Journal |volume=17 |issue=36 |date=7 February 1919 |title=Tree Far Under the Ground is Found in a Texas Well |page=62 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_oil-gas-journal_1919-02-07_17_36/page/62/mode/1up?q=%22Freeport%20Sulphur%22}}

In 1923, Freeport started producing sulfur from Hoskins Mound in Brazoria County, Texas.{{rp|111–117}}

The sulphur was obtained from a depth of between 900 and 1,300 feet. The plant equipment was purchased in 1918 intended to become the 5th plant at Bryanmound, but those plans were abandoned with the end of World War I. Temporary housing, water reservoirs and the excavation for the foundation were all completed before the first train brought cement to the construction site on October 7, 1922. The power plant of steel and brick construction had a 175 foot by 13 foot chimney and was completed on March 26, 1923 with the first turbogenerator already in service since March 10. In the beginning, oil was burned at the Hoskins Mound plant, transported by tank cars from Freeport, stored in 2x15,000bbl tanks and one 55,000bbl reserve tank. These 85,000bbl constituted about 2 months worth of supply (a little more than 1,400bpd). The power generation came from 6 batteries of 2x702hp Stirling boilers (ca. 8,400hp total). Two 500kw turbogenerators supplied 2,200 volt 3-phase current for those water pumps some distance from the boiler house, the lights, and several auxiliary devices.{{cite newspaper |newspaper=The Southern Engineer |title=Freeport Sulphur Company's New Plant at Hoskins Mound, Texas |date=October 1923 |volume=40 |issue=2 |page=35 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015080067963&seq=61}} Hoskins Mound was property of Texaco which received a $1 royalty per ton, as well as 50% of the profits until the time when Freeport had accumulated $2 million of the profit, at which point the contract (dated March 14, 1922{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Chemical Markets |volume=26 |issue=3 |date=March 1930 |title=The Companies That Produce Our American Brimstone |page=253 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_chemical-week_1930-03_26_3/page/253/mode/1up?q=%22March%2014%2C%201922%22}}) called for 70% of the profits to go to Texaco. The plant was built by Dwight P. Robinson & Co, which by then had absorbed Westinghouse, Church, Kerr & Co, builder of the Bryan Mound plants.

Production started the first week of December 1953 (preliminary activity in November{{cite magazine |magazine=The Engineering and Mining Journal |volume=154 |issue=12 |date=December 1953 |title=(image caption) |page=168 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_engineering-and-mining-journal_1953-12_154_12/page/168/mode/1up?q=%22Garden%20Island%20Bay%22}}). with approximately 500,000 tons per year capacity, Garden Island Bay was the largest of 4 new mines brought online in Freeport's early 1950s expansion program and in fact the largest new mine in the entire industry since Grand Ecaille in 1933. It was built at a cost of $14 million in an isolated marshland, the only other industrial facility within a 75 mile radius was Freeport's own Grande Ecaille. With the area only a foot or two above sea level, to protect against flooding it was necessary to pour an above-ground foundation, some 16 feet high resting on concrete pilings driven into the ground. When finished the plant could only be reached by boat or seaplane. The power plant and the drill site were 1 mile apart. The sulphur was brought by barges in liquid form to Port Sulphur. Even though Freeport already had the capability to use salty water in its process, this was not used and instead 2 earthen reservoirs together 1 square mile in size and holding almost a billion gallons could satisfy the plants demand for 3.5 million gallons per day. The reservoirs were filled between February and June, when salt water intrusion into the Mississippi river was at its seasonal low point.{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Sulphur |volume=3 |date=December 1953 |title=Freeport Sulphur Company |page=34 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_sulphur_1953-12_3/page/n37/mode/1up}} The sulphur mining rights were obtained in the beginning of 1951 from Texaco, which retained 50% of the profits.{{cite magazine |magazine=The Engineering and Mining Journal |volume=152 |issue=10 |date=October 1951 |title=Freeport to Develop New Louisiana Sulphur Find |page=102 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_engineering-and-mining-journal_1951-10_152_10/page/102/mode/1up?q=%22Garden%20Island%20Bay%22}} The discovery{{efn|The announcement included fairly detailed information of a planning stage, including the expected 500,000 tons per year capacity}} of the deposit was announced by Freeport on August 22, 1951.{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Commercial and Financial Chronicle |volume=174 |issue=5041 |date=27 August 1951 |title=Freeport Sulphur Co. - Discovers New Sulphur Deposit |page=2 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_commercial-and-financial-chronicle_1951-08-27_174_5041/page/n1/mode/1up?q=%22Freeport%20Sulphur%22}} In its first full year (1954) the plant produced in excess of its rated 500,000 tons.{{cite magazine |magazine=The Engineering and Mining Journal |volume=156 |issue=2 |date=February 1955 |title=Sulphur |page=107 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_engineering-and-mining-journal_1955-02_156_2/page/107/mode/1up?q=%22Garden%20Island%20Bay%22}}

Grand Isle was built (beginning on June 20, 1958{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Sulphur |volume=21 |date=June 1958 |title=Current Events - United States |page=41 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_sulphur_1958-06_21/page/41/mode/1up?q=%22grand%20isle%22}}) at a cost of $30 million of which $8 million represented the extra cost due to it being 7 miles off the coast of Grand Isle, Louisiana (it was the first ever offshore sulphur mine{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Sulphur |volume=28 |date=May 1960 |title=Freeport's Sulphur Tonnage Sales Exceeded those of 1958: but production was down |page=37 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_sulphur_1960-05_28/page/37/mode/1up?q=%22first%20offshore%22}}). The plant began operations on April 14, 1960. Its location in the general vicinity of Port Sulphur meant that the port was used as the transshipment hub for this mine. The offshore platform at a depth of 50 feet of water had an Y-shape, where the power plant on the far end was followed by a platform for living quarters and then the heliport, after which it bifurcated and led to 2 production platforms (the second was built in 1962 at a cost of $3.5 million{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Sulphur |volume=37 |date=December 1961 |title=Freeport to Extend Grand Isle Sulphur Mine |page=43 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_sulphur_1961-12_37/page/43/mode/1up}}), both of which allowed for 108 holes to be drilled directionally from 36 surface locations to a typical depth of 2,200ft with a horizontal deviation of up to 1,250ft and the holes thus fanned out into a kind of pyramid shape below each platform. The new mine was highly automated and originally required 75 workers to run. There were two groups where each alternately worked for 5 days and then rested 5 days. A special engineering feature was the 7 mile undersea molten sulphur pipeline which was buried 5ft beneath the ocean floor. It consisted of a 14-inch outer diameter casing which enclosed a thermally insulating air volume and a {{frac|7|5|8}}-inch OD hot water pipeline which in turn contained a concentric 6-inch OD molten sulphur line. Outside of the 14-inch casing one pipe was attached for hot water return to the mine and one for fresh water supply to the mine (but salt water was pumped into the deposit). Sulphur entered the line at 320°F and exited at the shore of Grand Isle at 280°F from where it was shipped still in liquid form by barges to Port Sulphur. The original plant had a capacity of 2,500-3,300 tons of sulphur per day and a requirement for 13mmcfd of natural gas. The sulphur rights were obtained in 1956 from Humble Oil which retained a right to 50% of the profits.{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Sulphur |volume=28 |date=May 1960 |title=Freeport's Grand Isle Sulphur Dome on Stream |page=15 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_sulphur_1960-05_28/page/15/mode/1up}} The former platform was turned into an artificial reef and is today totally submerged.

Freeport announced the development of a new process{{efn|

• [https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/b5/be/8d/c1bfb6520e9d56/US2756207.pdf US2756207 (July 24, 1956) - Sea Water Heating]
• Water is heated under pressure in 2 stages where scale forming salts precipitate out in the low temperature first stage in which they form only a soft layer instead of a hard scale
• [https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/a1/f2/40/7d30948279544e/US2759328.pdf US2759328 (August 21, 1956) - Pressurized heater for producing hot process water in large quantities from scale-forming water]

}} for the use of seawater in Frasch mining on February 18, 1952.{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Commercial and Financial Chronicle |volume=175 |issue=5093 |date=25 February 1952 |title=Freeport Sulphur Co. - Develops New Process |page=811 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_commercial-and-financial-chronicle_1952-02-25_175_5093/page/811/mode/1up?q=%22Freeport%20Sulphur%22}} Bay Ste. [Sainte] Elaine (BSE) was a relatively small mine, but notable not only for the first use of salt water in a Frasch mine, but also for the mounting of the principle plant equipment on barges instead of dredging an artificial island, which was the solution chosen for the company's first Louisiana marshland mine (Grand Ecaille). The power plant on the main 200ft long, 40ft wide and 12ft deep barge was installed at Grand Ecaille and towed in place. The barge was partially sunk and main deck level was 6.5ft above the water line. The boilers ran on a fresh water cycle going through heat exchangers. Heat exchangers were of corrosion-resistant steel and salt water pipes had a cement ljning. The plant was designed for parallel operation of 6 wells and rated at 100,000 long tons per year. Two 1,000 ton 1.5 million gallon 224ft x 39ft x 8ft5in insulated tank barges towed by a 800hp twin-screw diesel towboat brought the molten sulphur to Port Sulphur, 75 miles and an optimal round trip delay of 36 hours away (i.e. 666 tons per day maximum ferrying capacity on a tight schedule since mine operation was continuous). BSE required a workforce of 85 and 100 when including support personnel at Port Sulphur and Grand Ecaille. From the beginning it was accepted that the BSE operation may not actually be profitable.{{cite magazine |magazine=The Engineering and Mining Journal |volume=153 |issue=12 |date=December 1952 |title=Freeport Mines Sulphur by Boat and Barge at Bay Ste. Elaine |page=98 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_engineering-and-mining-journal_1952-12_153_12/page/98/mode/1up}}

Full scale development began in June 1960. The plant for the most part was reused from the decommissioned Bay Ste. Elaine mine, including the 200ft-barge-mobile-power-plant which was lifted to rest on a foundation on the Pelto artificial island. Like at Bay Ste. Elaine, sea water was pumped into the deposit. The drill site was 1 mile from the island base facilities. The field pipe line was installed at an elevation of 20ft. Along this pipe line, 4,800ft from the main island a prefabricated steel structure relay station and the relay tower from Bay Ste. Elaine mine were installed, the latter's height increased to 150ft. From the communication station a further 2,560ft of pipe led to the production area. The sulphur was brought in liquid form by barge to Port Sulphur.{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Sulphur |volume=32 |date=February 1961 |title=Freeport Sulphur Co.'s Activities |page=26 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_sulphur_1961-02_32/page/26/mode/1up}}

Operations began on March 10, 1955.{{cite magazine |magazine=The Engineering and Mining Journal |volume=156 |issue=5 |date=May 1955 |title=Companies Announce '54 Progress |page=72 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_engineering-and-mining-journal_1955-05_156_5/page/n81/mode/1up?q=%22Chacahoula%22}}

{{anchor|Cuban-American Manganese Corporation}}

Cuban-American Manganese Corporation (1931-1947):

The Delaware company offered the first block of 140,000 no par common shares out of an authorized 250,000 in September 1928.{{cite book |page=210 |publisher=Standard Statistics Company |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112077154091&seq=270 |title=Standard Stock Offerings Vol 16 |date=1928}} The capital was increased to 350,000 authorized shares on February 14, 1931.{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Commercial and Financial Chronicle |volume=132 |issue=3426 |date=21 February 1931 |title=Freeport Texas Co. - Acquires Cuban Manganese Deposits |page=1424 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_commercial-and-financial-chronicle_1931-02-21_132_3426/page/1424/mode/1up?q=%22Freeport%20Texas%20Co%22}}

The Freeport Texas Co. announced on February 19, 1931 the acquisition of a controlling interest (resulting in 9 of 15 Board members{{cite newspaper |newspaper=The New York Times |volume=80 |issue=26769 |date=10 May 1931 |title=Freeport Texas in Charge - Takes Control of Cuban American Manganese Corporation |page=13 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_new-york-times_1931-05-10_80_26769/page/n44/mode/1up?q=%22Freeport%20Texas%22}}) in the Cuban-American Manganese Corporation, owner of 10,000 acres of manganese deposits within 25 miles of Santiago adjacent to the Cuban Railway main line. A plant to process 1,000 tons a day of ore and produce 100,000 tons a year of 50% concentrate was to be constructed within one year.{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Mining Congress Journal |volume=17 |issue=2 |date=February 1931 |title=Freeport Texas Company in Manganese Deal |page=167 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_amc-journal_1931-02_17_2/page/167/mode/1up?q=%22Freeport%20Texas%20Company%22}} Before 1921 some of the properties were operated by Rand & Aguilara.{{cite magazine |magazine=Iron Trade Review |volume=84 |issue=5 |date=31 January 1929 |title=Buys Interest in Cuban Manganese Mine |page=372 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_industry-week_1929-01-31_84_5/page/372/mode/1up?q=%22manganese%20properties%20at%20cristo%22}} A prior attempt to finish the plant by July 1929 was apparently not a success.{{cite magazine |magazine=Iron Trade Review |volume=83 |issue=23 |date=6 December 1928 |title=Manganese Concentrating Plant Under Way |page=1473 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_industry-week_1928-12-06_83_23/page/1473/mode/1up?q=%22Manganese%20Concentrating%20Plant%20Under%20Way%22}} The froth flotation process{{efn|

• [https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/f1/50/41/ba84573cde9198/US1955039.pdf US1,955,039 (Apr 17, 1934) - Concentrating Manganese Ores]
• A novel reagent combination of fish soap, crude oil and kerosene
• [https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/2f/03/26/d5ef6e909a13ed/US1911865.pdf US1,911,865 (May 30, 1933) - Concentrating Manganese Ores]
• Adding tannin to the reagent mixture to increase Mn yield from 43% to 46.9% (with sintering: 50.7% to 54.7%)

}} for concentrating the ore had been developed and tested at commercial scale by Freeport and the B. F. Goodrich Company, who were the principal minority shareholders in the Cuban company. Cuba was not an important producer of manganese and in fact the company worked the only commercially viable deposit in the country which was only viable because it was free from tariffs on import to the United States which heavily relied on importation of the metal.{{cite report |url=https://archive.org/details/pub_usgov-bmines-information-circular_6729/page/n9/mode/1up?q=Cuba |title=Information Circular 6729: Manganese - General Information - World Sources - Cuba |page=9 |date=June 1933 |publisher=United States Bureau of Mines}} In July 1932 Cuban-American floated 700,000 shares of par $2 8% preferred stock, convertible to common one-for-one at any time.{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Commercial and Financial Chronicle |volume=137 |issue=3555 |date=12 August 1933 |title=The New Capital Flotations in the United States During the Month of July and for the Seven Months Since the First of January |page=1121 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_commercial-and-financial-chronicle_1933-08-12_137_3555/page/1121/mode/1up?q=%22Cuban-American%20Manganese%22}} In 1932 Freeport bought additional shares for $699,327 out of its cash reserve.{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Commercial and Financial Chronicle |volume=136 |issue=3528 |date=4 February 1933 |title=Freeport Texas Co. - Annual Report FY ended Dec 31, 1932 |page=836 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_commercial-and-financial-chronicle_1933-02-04_136_3528/page/836/mode/1up?q=%22Freeport%20Texas%20Co%22}}{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Commercial and Financial Chronicle |volume=134 |issue=3501 |date=30 July 1932 |title=Freeport Texas Co. - Gets New Lease - Earnings etc. |page=826 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_commercial-and-financial-chronicle_1932-07-30_134_3501/page/826/mode/1up?q=%22Freeport%20Texas%20Co%22}} At the end of 1934 the investment stood at 313,621 preferred and 289,715.5 common shares (86.19% of voting shares) and was carried as the principal constituent of the Investments at Cost ($2,727,961) row in the balance sheet.{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Commercial and Financial Chronicle |volume=140 |issue=3636 |date=2 March 1935 |title=Freeport Texas Co. - Earnings |page=1486 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_commercial-and-financial-chronicle_1935-03-02_140_3636/page/1486/mode/1up?q=%22Freeport%20Texas%20Co%22}} The US-Brazilian trade agreement of February 2, 1935{{cite newspaper |newspaper=The American Foreign Service Journal |volume=12 |issue=3 |date=March 1935 |title=News from the Department |page=146 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_foreign-service-journal_1935-03_12_3/page/146/mode/1up?q=%22manganese%22}}{{cite_web |title=Reciprocal Trade (49 Stat. 3808, Executive Agreement Series 82 |url=https://maint.loc.gov/law/help/us-treaties/bevans/b-br-ust000005-0849.pdf}} lowered the manganese import duty by 50% and the plant had to shut down on May 1, 1935 due to the loss of competitive advantage, although the sorting and shipping of high grade ore was continued. The company invested $500,000 into a wet-processing sintering kiln process to increase efficiency and could reopen in early 1937. Total investment was estimated at $3,000,000. In 1941 the Metals Reserve Corp contracted for between 25,000 and 65,000 long tons of concentrate a year over 3 years and plant capacity was increased from 100,000 to 130,000 tons of >=50% concentrate per year. The plant could also produce an additional 50,000 tons of 39-40% concentrate.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/pub_usgov-minerals-yearbook_1936/page/439/mode/1up?q=%22cuban+american%22 |title=Minerals Yearbook 1936 |year=1936 |publisher=U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines |page=439}}{{cite magazine |magazine=The Iron Age |volume=147 |issue=6 |date=6 February 1941 |title=What is Our Manganese Situation |page=44 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_chiltons-iron-age_1941-02-06_147_6/page/n17/mode/1up?q=%22cuban%20american%20manganese%20corp%22}} The company for the first time paid a dividend on its common stock (50 cents) on December 27, 1940. At the time there were 355,873 common shares outstanding and on January 15, 1941 all 594,127 shares of $2 par preferred stock were called unless converted to common stock at a rate of one-for-one before that date. Freeport Sulphur announced it would convert its entire holding of 95% of the preferred.{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Commercial and Financial Chronicle |volume=151 |issue=3936 |date=30 November 1940 |title=Cuban-American Manganese Corp - Initial Common Dividend - Preferred Stock Called |page=3232 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_commercial-and-financial-chronicle_1940-11-30_151_3936/page/3232/mode/1up?q=%22Cuban-American%20Manganese%20Corp%22}} In December 1946 depletion of the mine was imminent. The Cuban-American Manganese Corp was dissolved. For each 95 shares of the company one share of par $50 stock of the Cuban Mining Co. subsidiary was distributed from a total of 10,000 authorized and outstanding shares. Freeport Sulphur owned 94% of the shares of Manganese Corp and thus received 94% of the stock of Cuban Mining Co. Additionally each of the 950,000 shares received $4.958 in cash. Plans were set in motion to convert the plant to produce Portland cement, but this led nowhere and on August 12, 1947 it was announced that the Cuban Mining Co. would also be dissolved.{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Commercial and Financial Chronicle |volume=164 |issue=4551 |date=16 December 1946 |title=Cuban-American Manganese Corp. - To Dissolve |page=3141 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_commercial-and-financial-chronicle_1946-12-16_164_4551/page/3141/mode/1up?q=%22Cuban-American%20Manganese%22}}{{cite newspaper |newspaper=Commercial and Financial Chronicle |volume=166 |issue=16 |date=25 August 1947 |title=Cuban Mining Co. - To Dissolve and Liquidate |page=757 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_commercial-and-financial-chronicle_1947-08-25_166_16/page/757/mode/1up?q=%22Cuban%20Mining%20Co%22}} Freeport received $30 per share on September 29, 1947 and $45 per share on October 31, 1947 from this liquidation.{{cite web |title=Freeport Sulphur Company v. United States, (1958), 163 F. Supp. 648 (Fed. Cl. 1958) |url=https://casetext.com/case/freeport-sulphur-company-v-united-states-3}} The liquidation value of both companies was thus $5,460,100.

Jerritt Canyon mine, near Elko, Nevada has produced over 8 million ounces of gold since 1981.{{cite web |title=A growing mid-tier North American gold producer. |url=https://www.jerrittcanyon.com/ |website=Jerritt Canyon Gold |access-date=8 April 2020 |archive-date=26 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200626201853/https://www.jerrittcanyon.com/ |url-status=dead }} 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 (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 and the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act bankruptcy protections of Canada from June 9, 2014.{{cite news|url=http://elkodaily.com/mining/canadian-billionaire-buys-jerritt-canyon/article_605d9414-8871-5695-878c-4c430c230929.html |title=Going Private: Canadian billionaire buys Jerritt Canyon |author=Marianne Kobak McKown |date=Jun 26, 2015 |publisher=Elko Daily Free Press}} 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 China Molybdenum 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 include Henry Kissinger, John Hay Whitney, Robert A. Lovett, Benno C. Schmidt Sr., Gus Long, Arleigh Burke, J. Stapleton Roy, Godfrey Rockefeller and his cousin-in-law, Jean Mauzé.

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.{{Cite web|title=Final Report - Fatality #15 - September 1, 2008 {{!}} Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA)|url=https://www.msha.gov/data-reports/fatality-reports/2008/fatality-15-september-1-2008/final-report|access-date=2022-02-09|website=www.msha.gov}}

{{main|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.{{Cite web|title=Protests over fatal collapse at Freeport/Rio Tinto West Papua mine {{!}} Down to Earth|url=https://www.downtoearth-indonesia.org/story/protests-over-fatal-collapse-freeportrio-tinto-west-papua-mine|access-date=2022-02-08|website=www.downtoearth-indonesia.org}} A government study concluded that the incident was the result of negligence.{{Cite web|title=Freeport-McMoran: Corporate Rap Sheet {{!}} Corporate Research Project|url=https://www.corp-research.org/freeport-mcmoran|access-date=2022-02-08|website=www.corp-research.org}} 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 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.{{cite news |last1=Perlez |first1=Jane |last2=Bonner |first2=Raymond |title=Below a Mountain of Wealth, a River of Waste |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/27/world/asia/below-a-mountain-of-wealth-a-river-of-waste.html |access-date=9 April 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=27 December 2005}}

The Grasberg mine's tailings "severely impacted" more than {{convert|11|sqmi|km2|0}} 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 rock{{snd}}large components of which generate acid{{snd}}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.{{cite news | url=http://www.etan.org/news/kissinger/spinning.htm | title=Spinning Gold | first=Robert | last=Bryce | work=Mother Jones Magazine | date=September 1996}}

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.{{cite web | url=https://www.regjeringen.no/en/aktuelt/two-companies---wal-mart-and-freeport---/id104396/ | title=Two companies – Wal-Mart and Freeport – are being excluded from the Norwegian Government Pension Fund – Global's investment universe | publisher=Norwegian Ministry of Finance | date=June 6, 2006}}

In 2013, a tunnel collapse killed 28 workers.{{Cite web|title=28 bodies recovered after Indonesia tunnel collapse|url=https://www.cnn.com/2013/05/21/world/asia/indonesia-mine-collapse/index.html|access-date=2022-02-08|website=CNN|date=21 May 2013 }} 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.{{cite news|date=29 May 2013|title=Big Gossan Collapse: Learning from Tragedy|work=TEMPO.CO|location=Jakarta|url=https://en.tempo.co/read/484065/big-gossan-collapse-learning-from-tragedy|access-date=17 January 2021}} Freeport was accused of negligence by the Indonesian National Human Rights Commission.{{Cite web|date=2014-03-19|title=Grasberg - deadly accident in Rio Tinto mine could have been prevented|url=https://www.industriall-union.org/grasberg-deadly-accident-in-rio-tinto-mine-could-have-been-prevented|access-date=2022-02-08|website=IndustriALL|language=en}}

{{Main|Papua Conflict}}

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.{{Cite web|title=REPRESSIVE MINING IN WEST PAPUA|url=https://wpik.org/Src/eng_moving_mountains.html|access-date=2022-02-08|website=wpik.org}} Pressured by cultural and economic deterioration, there were numerous quarrels, between the tribes, Freeport, and the Indonesian military.{{Cite web|title=Amungme: Mountain Papuans deprived of their land {{!}} Stichting Papua Erfgoed|url=https://www.papuaerfgoed.org/en/theme/amungme-mountain-papuans-deprived-their-land|access-date=2022-02-08|website=www.papuaerfgoed.org}}{{Cite web|title=The Mining Menace of Freeport-McMoRan|url=https://www.etan.org/news/kissinger/themine.htm|access-date=2022-02-08|website=www.etan.org}} Some unarmed natives were killed or tortured by the military, or became part of the Free Papua Movement insurgence.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}

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.{{cite web | url=https://www.peri.umass.edu/toxic-100-air-polluters-index-2016-report-based-on-2014-data | title=Toxic 100 Air Polluters Index (2016 Report, Based on 2014 Data) | publisher=Political Economy Research Institute| date=2016-10-26 }}

After discovery of uranium and sulfate in the groundwater, Cyprus Tohono Corporation provided North Komelik residents with bottled water until 2003. In 2003, two new supply wells were installed six miles south of the village.{{cite web | url=https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.Cleanup&id=0905943#bkground | title=CYPRUS TOHONO MINE Site Profile }} The mine used various mining methods to process ore into copper, and these methods required a mix of chemical fluids. Workers disposed of these chemicals in two areas downhill from the mine in unlined ponds. As a result, the liquid chemicals seeped into the ground below the disposal area and polluted a groundwater drinking source known as the “basin-fill aquifer.” The Tohono O'odham Nation, where the mine is located relies heavily upon groundwater to meet drinking water needs.{{cite web | url=https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.Cleanup&id=0905943#bkground | title=CYPRUS TOHONO MINE Site Profile }}

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.{{Cite web |date=2008-05-30 |title=Newscow - Oklahoma town suing over contamination |url=http://www.newscow.net/story.php?StoryID=1744 |access-date=2022-02-28 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080530232939/http://www.newscow.net/story.php?StoryID=1744 |archive-date=30 May 2008 |url-status=dead}} The City of Blackwell and Freeport settled for $54M in February 2010.{{Cite web |last=PALMER |first=JENNIFER |title=Blackwell settles zinc suit |url=https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/state/2010/02/06/blackwell-settles-zinc-suit/61292171007/ |access-date=2022-02-28 |website=The Oklahoman |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Oklahoma City Reaches $54 MillionSettlement Over Zinc Contamination |url=https://news.bloomberglaw.com/product-liability-and-toxics-law/oklahoma-city-reaches-54-million-settlement-over-zinc-contamination |access-date=2022-02-28 |website=news.bloomberglaw.com |language=en}} In 2012, Freeport agreed to a $119M settlement with the residents.{{Cite web |date=2012-05-24 |title=The Law Firm of Ryan Whaley Coldiron Shandy Representing Kay County in Lawsuit Against Freeport-McMoRan |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120524006245/en/The-Law-Firm-of-Ryan-Whaley-Coldiron-Shandy-Representing-Kay-County-in-Lawsuit-Against-Freeport-McMoRan |access-date=2022-02-28 |website=www.businesswire.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2012-02-01 |title=Oklahoma Residents Settle for $119 Million Over Old Blackwell Smelter |url=https://www.sej.org/headlines/oklahoma-residents-settle-119-million-over-old-blackwell-smelter |access-date=2022-02-28 |website=SEJ |language=en}}

In April 2012, the US Department of Justice announced that Freeport McMoran would pay $6.8 million 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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.courthousenews.com/polluting-copper-minefined-6-8-million/|access-date=2022-02-09|website=www.courthousenews.com|title=Polluting Copper Mine|Fined $6.8 Million }}

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).{{Cite web |title=Freeport-McMoRan Inc's Sustainability Report for 2020Q4 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624125415/https://www.fcx.com/sites/fcx/files/documents/sustainability/2020-annual-report-on-sustainability.pdf |url=https://www.fcx.com/sites/fcx/files/documents/sustainability/2020-annual-report-on-sustainability.pdf|archive-date=June 24, 2021 }} [https://analytics.exerica.com/App/Name/Freeport-McMoRan%20Inc/Total%20CO2e%20Emissions%20-%20Market-Based%20Scope%201%20%2b%20Scope%202/2020Q4/12 Alt URL] Emissions have been on a declining trend since 2015.

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• [http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=5718 Earth Observatory Satellite Picture of Grasberg Mine"]

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