VANCOUVER — It's been a year of change for miner Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE: FCX) that has included a significant portfolio shuffle and a renewed focus on a strong balance sheet and dividend program. The company remains a big player in the copper and gold arena, but has also returned to its roots with a stronger reliance on oil and gas assets.
Freeport has been involved in roughly US$6.3 billion in natural resource deals this year, including the US$1.8-billion sale of the Candelaria-Ojos copper project to Lundin Mining (TSX: LUN; US-OTC: LUNCF) and the US$3.1-billion sale of the Eagle Ford Shale asset to Encana (TSX: ECA; NYSE: ECA). President and CEO Richard Adkerson recently presented at the Goldman Sachs Annual Global Metals & Mining Conference to provide some insight on Freeport's strategy moving forward.
“The assets we sold were good assets. What characterized them from our perspective was the absence of the sort of growth opportunities that we see in the assets we’ve retained. For us, we were able to obtain reasonable values, take steps towards managing our balance sheet, which is a big objective of ours,” Adkerson commented.
“When you live through weak commodity prices you want to preserve your liquidity and preserve your assets for long term success. …
Read the complete article at NorthernMiner.com/news/bmo-freeport-mcmoran
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