FCX awarded the Copper Mark for responsible production practices
PHOENIX, AR – Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (FCX) has announced the Copper Mark has been awarded to its first three sites: the Cerro Verde mine in Peru, the El Abra mine in Chile and the Atlantic Copper smelter and refinery in Spain.
The Copper Mark is a new, comprehensive assurance framework that promotes responsible production practices and demonstrates the industry’s contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It is the first and only framework developed specifically for the copper industry and enables each site to demonstrate to customers, investors, final manufacturers and other stakeholders their responsible production performance.
To receive the Copper Mark, copper producers must be assessed independently against a comprehensive set of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria on a site-by-site basis.
According to Reuters, Freeport-McMoRan sold its 95% stake in the Kisanfu copper-cobalt mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to China Molybdenum Co for $550 million.
The acquisition of the undeveloped Kisanfu project boosts China Molybdenum’s reserves in the DRC, where the Chinese company already operates the giant Tenke Fungurume mine. Kisanfu holds an estimated 6.28 million tonnes of copper and 3.1 million tonnes of cobalt metal.
FCX is an international mining company with headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona. FCX operates large, long-lived, geographically diverse assets with significant proven and probable reserves of copper, gold and molybdenum. FCX is one of the world’s largest publicly traded copper producers.
FCX’s portfolio of assets includes the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia, one of the world’s largest copper and gold deposits; and significant mining operations in North America and South America, including the large-scale Morenci minerals district in Arizona and the Cerro Verde operation in Peru.
