U.S. expansions as Biden's EV plan boosts copper demand
(Reuters) - Freeport-McMoRan Inc is set to approve expansions at several of its U.S. copper mines to capitalize on surging demand for the red metal as President Joe Biden moves to electrify the nation's automobiles and combat climate change, Chief Executive Richard Adkerson told Reuters. The expansions would be a major bet on the U.S. economy - one of the company's largest markets - and also on the rising demand for electric vehicles (EVs), which use twice as much copper as internal combustion engines. He also is aiming to double the size of the company's board of directors. Phoenix-based Freeport already produces more than 1 billion pounds of copper each year in the United States, little of which is exported. While the company opened a new U.S. mine last year in Arizona, it could soon greenlight expansions at three mines in the U.S. Southwest, Adkerson said, adding more than 250 million pounds of copper each year to U.S. output. "President Biden clearly has a commitment to addressing climate change, and any climate change initiative creates demand for copper," Adkerson, who became Freeport's chairman on Feb. 2, said in an interview this week. Biden met with lawmakers on Wednesday to discuss how to secure supplies of electric vehicles and the minerals used to make them. Copper is a key barometer of economic health due to its use in manufacturing. In the last six months, copper prices have slowly rebounded to just above $4 a pound and Freeport's stock has more than doubled. "Now we can turn our attention to focusing on these growth opportunities," Adkerson said, adding that any expansions would take several years to bring online. That timeline implies the company remains bullish on copper for the long run. The option to expand existing mines, rather than building new ones, gives Freeport an advantage over its rivals, Adkerson said. Rio Tinto Plc, for instance, is trying to build the Resolution Copper mine in Arizona, a project that Native Americans oppose on religious grounds. Adkerson declined to comment on that dispute. Freeport's commitment to copper, Adkerson said, will remain and the company will avoid lithium, rare earths and some other EV metals that are getting more attention on Wall Street. The company is the world's largest producer of molybdenum, a metal often found with copper and that can be used to make some types of EV batteries and airbags. "We're on the verge of really great success, and thank God I've got the health and energy to be a part of it," he said. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-mining-freeport-mcmoran-idUSKBN2AP2CW