Freeport's Gold Sales To Fall Nearly In Half This Quarter As Indonesia Timing Shift Defers 60,000 Ounces
A scheduling delay at PT Freeport Indonesia pushed roughly 60,000 ounces of refined gold into the fourth quarter, squeezing third-quarter costs.
Freeport-McMoRan disclosed Friday that a timing shift at its Indonesian operation will cut third-quarter gold sales to roughly 100,000 ounces — well below the 160,000-plus ounces implied by its July forecast — after about 60,000 ounces of refined gold slipped into the fourth quarter, according to an 8-K filed with the SEC. Copper production held up, but the gold shortfall is already pushing unit costs above plan.
What The Filing Says
The operational update, filed Friday morning, says third-quarter consolidated copper production came in at roughly 830 million pounds, in line with expectations, with slightly stronger results from international operations offsetting slightly weaker output in the U.S. Copper sales for the quarter are still expected to approximate the July 2026 estimate of 750 million pounds.
Gold is a different story. Consolidated gold production of roughly 230,000 ounces also approximated expectations — the metal came out of the ground on schedule — but changes in the timing of sales at PT Freeport Indonesia deferred about 60,000 ounces of refined gold from the third quarter into the fourth. That leaves third-quarter gold sales expected at only about 100,000 ounces, the company said.
The deferral feeds directly into the cost line. Consolidated unit net cash costs for the third quarter — measured net of by-product credits and excluding idle-facility and restoration costs tied to the phased ramp-up of the Grasberg Block Cave underground mine — are now expected to run about 5% above the July estimate of $2.00 per pound of copper. The reason: gold sales function as a by-product credit that offsets copper production expenses, so fewer gold ounces sold means less of an offset and a higher reported cost per pound.
On the revenue side, Freeport estimates its third-quarter average realized copper price exceeded $6.50 per pound, a figure that will determine how much the gold shortfall actually costs the bottom line when full results are released.
The Indonesia Context
The gold timing issue runs back to a mud rush incident at the Grasberg Block Cave underground mine in September 2025, which forced a temporary suspension of the adjacent smelter and disrupted the normal flow of refined metal. PTFI's smelter in Eastern Java only restarted in late August 2026, and the mine's mill throughput was still running at roughly 67% of pre-incident normalized rates during the third quarter — averaging about 140,000 metric tons of ore per day, including roughly 70,000 metric tons per day from the Grasberg Block Cave itself.
The company said abnormally dry weather in Indonesia has been broadly favorable for mining but has created challenges in the milling process that are being actively managed with limited impact so far. In the U.S., operations experienced lower-than-planned rates due to an increased frequency of localized flooding, power outages, and strong winds.
Freeport said upgrades to the material handling system at the Grasberg Block Cave haulage level are on track for completion by early 2027, with preparations continuing for a targeted restart of production from Production Block 1S by mid-2027. The company continues to expect to reach 80% of capacity in mid-2027 and approach full capacity by year-end 2027.
What To Watch
FCX shares closed at $69.28 at Thursday's close, down about 1% from the prior session, before the operational update was filed Friday morning (market data).
Freeport plans to release full third-quarter 2026 earnings before the market opens on Tuesday, October 27, followed by a conference call at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time. That report will show whether the $6.50-per-pound copper price estimate held and how much the deferred gold ounces cost the quarter in net terms.
Investors will also be watching the company's progress toward a targeted investment decision by year-end 2026 on doubling capacity at its Bagdad operation in Northwest Arizona, part of what Freeport calls its America's Copper Champion growth plans. The company is also advancing the regulatory process for a potential expansion of its El Abra mine in Chile.
The October 27 earnings release will be the first full accounting of how the gold deferral and the Indonesia smelter ramp-up together shaped the quarter's bottom line.
Sources
- 8-K Filing — FREEPORT-MCMORAN INC (FCX) — SEC EDGAR
- Exhibit fcx_261002.htm — FREEPORT-MCMORAN INC 8-K exhibit — SEC EDGAR
