Freeport Keeps Its Leach Additive Out Of The Forecast: 800 Million Pounds Is 'Aspirational'
CEO Kathleen Quirk says lab tests show more than four times the recoveries, but field results will decide the target.
Freeport-McMoRan, the Phoenix-based copper, gold and molybdenum miner, is leaving its new leaching additive out of its forecast until it is proven in the field. CEO Kathleen Quirk said on the company's third-quarter earnings call Tuesday that "800 is aspirational," even as lab tests show incremental recoveries of more than four times those of the first-generation additive.
Lab results, no field data yet
Quirk told analysts the next-generation additive is proprietary and is being manufactured on a fast-track schedule. Commercial quantities start arriving for field deployment going into 2027.
Why 800 million pounds stays out
The plan carries 300 million pounds of leach copper in 2027 and 2028. Asked by a Wells Fargo analyst whether the additive was in the numbers, Quirk said that figure is lower than could be expected if the additive works as well in the field as in the lab. "It's not in our forecast," she said, adding that "the 800 is going to depend on the results in the field." She said leach recoveries could, in that case, start to compete with mill recoveries, with the 800 million pound level targeted by 2030.
She was more cautious on what that means by ore type. At Morenci, she said, recovery is so low that a 40% uplift would not reach mill-like levels, while at Chino, where recovery starts higher, the same uplift gets closer to 80% or 85%.
A Raymond James analyst asked whether 800 million pounds could be exceeded. Quirk said she did not want to speculate and asked for a few more quarters of feedback.
A trial clock and 40 billion pounds
A Bernstein analyst, who called the mill comparison "quite a tease," asked whether a six-to-12-month trial was the right frame. Quirk said it was a good benchmark, said the company would have some information this time next year, and promised quarterly updates. In lab testing, she said, longer time under leach means better recovery.
The target is more than 40 billion pounds of copper already mined and sitting in above-ground stockpiles, which earlier technologies could not recover. Quirk said the approach does not need significant new capital. "We need to be cautious until it's proven in the field," she said, though it "could represent the major breakthrough technology" the company has sought.
Freeport's market value was $93.6 billion in Tuesday trading.
The next data point is the 2027 field deployment, with Quirk promising quarterly updates and some answers about a year from now.
Sources
- Freeport-McMoRan: Q3 Earnings Snapshot — Associated Press
- Freeport-McMoRan Q3 earnings preview: Results expected to rise Y/Y (NYSE:FCX) | Seeking Alpha — seekingalpha.com
- Freeport-McMoRan rises after Q3 earnings topper despite lower production, rising costs (FCX:NYSE) | Seeking Alpha — seekingalpha.com
- Freeport beats Q3 earnings expectations despite rising costs and sharp drop in gold sales | Kitco News — kitco.com
- Freeport-McMoRan 3Q Profit Gains on Higher Copper, Molybdenum Prices — MarketWatch
