Milling rates are surpassing expectations as Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE) completes its expansion of the Grasberg copper-gold operation in Indonesia’s Irian Jaya province.
The goal of 115,000 tonnes per day has already been reached, and Freeport believes it will be able to sustain that level by mid-year. The daily average for March was 107,200 tonnes.
First-quarter sales amounted to 196 million lb. copper and 271,000 oz. gold, and the production cost of 34 cents per lb. copper was lower than in the preceeding quarter.
The Rio Tinto smelter and refinery in Spain is being expanded and should be operational by the first quarter of 1996. In the meantime, Freeport has reached an agreement with Mitsubishi Materials and Fluor Daniel to build a US$550-million smelter and refinery in East Java. Freeport will have a 20% equity interest in the operation, which is expected to produce 200,000 tonnes of copper per year, with Mitsubishi and Fluor Daniel owning 70% and 10%, respectively.
In the first quarter, Freeport earned US$44 million, or 21 cents per share, on revenue of US$409 million, compared with US$13.6 million, or 7 cents per share, on US$266 million in the same period of 1994.
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