Freeport says Q4 copper, gold production below target

US copper and gold miner Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX) said on Tuesday it fourth quarter copper and gold production is lower than targeted due to lower than expected ore grades, lower gold recoveries and the timing of in-process inventory in concentrate handling systems.

The company said its Indonesian unit PT Freeport Indonesia's (PT-FI) production is currently tracking approximately 5% below PT-FI's quarterly estimated copper sales of 480 million pounds and 10% below PT-FI's quarterly estimated gold sales of 1.1 million ounces.

The announcement came on a day when the price of gold rose above US$500 an ounce for the first time in 18 years and copper surpassed $2 a pound for the first time this month.

?Efforts are under way to access and process available higher grade ore in December in an effort to achieve targeted production volumes or to reduce the shortfall substantially, said the company is a statement.

FCX previously reported that PT-FI?s 2005 sales are estimated at 1.47 billion pounds of copper and 2.8 million ounces of gold.

FCX, through its subsidiary PT-FI, operates a huge copper and gold mining operations in Papua. (alex)