Copper Comes Costly for Freeport-McMoRan, as Mines Face Delays

April 26, 2022--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Freeport-McMoRan Incorporated (NYSE:FCX) (Phoenix, Arizona) struggled to expand its capacity to meet rapidly growing global demand for copper in the first quarter of 2022. Despite stronger prices and improved production, executives acknowledged the company's copper sales could dip in the coming year as its planned capacity growth faces obstacles. For the first quarter of this year, however, company profits more than doubled from a year earlier.

Copper is a key element in to semiconductor chips, battery energy-storage systems (BESS), electric vehicles (EV) and other technologies that are crucial to remaining competitive in the changing global economy.

Most of Freeport-McMoRan's active investments in copper mining are in South America, where it is focusing much of its efforts on the copper-rich nations of Chile and Peru. Industrial Info is tracking more than $13.5 billion worth of active projects involving Freeport-McMoRan worldwide, more than 80% of which remains in the planning stages.