Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. said yesterday it is cutting more than 600 jobs at its U.S. mining operations to lower costs at a time when copper and other metal prices have plummeted.
The cuts come a week after the company, the world's largest publicly traded copper producer, said it was delaying the restart of its Climax molybdenum mine in Colorado and cutting production by 25 per cent at the Henderson molybdenum mine in the same state.
Freeport had also previously announced it would delay expansions at the Sierrita and Bagdad copper mines in Arizona and push back the restart of its Miami mine in the state, cutting about $370 million (U.S.) in planned capital costs.
Those moves had resulted in almost 150 additional layoffs – 40 at Miami and 95 of the 940 workers at the Chino mine complex in New Mexico. Most of the latest round of 633 layoffs – 402 jobs – will be in Arizona.
