Freeport Third-Quarter Profit Climbs To $1.2 Billion As Copper Fetches $6.54 A Pound
Copper sales volumes fell as Indonesia's Grasberg mine ramped up, but a much higher realized price lifted earnings to $0.81 a share.
Freeport-McMoRan, the Phoenix-based miner of copper, gold and molybdenum, said Tuesday that third-quarter net income attributable to common stock was $1,174 million, or $0.81 per share, up from $674 million, or $0.46, a year earlier. A realized copper price of $6.54 a pound, against $4.68, more than offset lower copper sales as Indonesia's Grasberg mine rebuilds output.
Price up, volume down
Adjusted net income was $1.3 billion, or $0.88 per share, after excluding $101 million of after-tax net charges, or $0.07 per share. Those charges were mainly idle-facility and restoration costs tied to the September 2025 mud rush incident at the Indonesian unit PTFI.
Revenue reached $7,546 million, compared with $6,972 million a year earlier, and operating income rose to $2,353 million from $1,972 million. Copper sales fell to 749 million pounds from 977 million, mainly because of lower operating rates at PTFI during the Grasberg Block Cave ramp-up and shipment timing.
Unit net cash costs rose to $2.07 per pound from $1.40. The company blamed lower copper and gold volumes at PTFI and higher energy and consumables costs, and said about 60 thousand ounces of refined gold sales slid into the fourth quarter. Gold sales were 105 thousand ounces, below the company's July estimate of 160 thousand.
Grasberg's slow climb
Mill throughput in the quarter averaged 141 thousand metric tons of ore per day, or 67% of capacity. PTFI's smelter restarted in late August 2026. The company still expects to reach 80% of capacity in mid-2027 and approach full capacity by year-end 2027.
CEO Kathleen Quirk said favorable pricing, particularly for copper and molybdenum, "drove strong margins with substantial conversion to bottom-line results."
Freeport runs copper mines in Arizona, New Mexico, Peru and Chile, molybdenum mines in Colorado, and the Grasberg district. In 2025, copper made up 75% of its revenues, according to its annual report.
Cash, buybacks and a Bagdad decision
Operating cash flow was $2.0 billion in the quarter. Freeport expects about $8.5 billion for 2026, net of $0.6 billion of working capital and other uses, assuming fourth-quarter prices of $6.50 per pound for copper and $4,000 per ounce for gold. Net debt stood at $1.8 billion, excluding $3.2 billion of debt for PTFI's downstream processing facilities.
The company bought back 1.4 million shares for $102 million in the quarter, and returned $955 million to shareholders in the first nine months.
Freeport expects to reach an investment decision in the fourth quarter on a Bagdad expansion in Arizona, with incremental capital costs estimated at about $4.5 billion. Studies indicate it would add 200 to 250 million pounds of copper a year.
For the fourth quarter, Freeport expects copper sales of 875 million pounds and gold sales of 300 thousand ounces.
Sources
- 8-K Filing — FREEPORT-MCMORAN INC (FCX) — SEC EDGAR
- Exhibit a3q2026exhibit991.htm — FREEPORT-MCMORAN INC 8-K exhibit — SEC EDGAR
- Exhibit fcx3q26cc_final.htm — FREEPORT-MCMORAN INC 8-K exhibit — SEC EDGAR
