Freeport’s profit narrowly beats despite production, Indonesia woes

Shares rose 2.8% in Thursday morning trading alongside a rise in copper prices.

The results lay bare the mining industry’s problem getting access to skilled labor to produce the building blocks for the green energy transition, as well as the rising focus on resource nationalism by host governments across the globe.

Despite the challenges, Freeport repeatedly underscored its views that copper demand continues to outpace supply, even amid persistent economic worries in China, the world’s largest consumer of the red metal, and elsewhere.

“The ability of the copper industry to meet this rising demand is a major challenge, and we are working very hard to increase our supplies as we look forward,” president Kathleen Quirk told investors on a Thursday conference call.

Quirk added that copper prices need to rise for the industry to be incentivized to boost production.

The Phoenix-based company reported net income of $343 million, or 23 cents per share, for the three months ended June 30, compared with $840 million, or 57 cents per share, a year earlier.

The company’s adjusted earnings of 35 cents per share narrowly beat analysts’ estimate of 34 cents, according to Refinitiv data.

Freeport operates the low-cost, high-grade Grasberg mine in Indonesia and its export permit expired on June 10, when the Southeast Asian country began its raw mineral export ban. The company has not made any shipments since the expiry. A routine 75-day maintenance shutdown at domestic buyer, PT Smelting, that started in May 1, piled more pressure.

Quirk said Freeport is in discussions now with Jakarta over the export duty.

The company’s quarterly sales of the metal fell 5.3% to 1.03 billion pounds while production fell 1% to 1.07 billion pounds.

Further denting profit was a nearly 5% fall in average realized prices for copper and a 4.3% rise in cash costs. The company also trimmed its 2023 capital expenditure outlook to $4.8 billion from $5.1 billion.

For the current quarter, Freeport expects sales of 1 billion pounds of copper, if exports from Indonesia resume later this month.

The company cited lower sales volume and increased costs of maintenance, supplies and labor in North America for the jump in expenses.

In Peru, Freeport is in discussions with one union for about 28% of workers at the Cerro Verde copper mine, who have threatened to strike. Freeport’s mining peers have had intractable labor issues in Peru for more than a year.

Quirk and other executives said Freeport is working avoid a strike and is hopeful issues are resolved soon.