Freeport says to have paid $1 billion since 2004: Report

US copper and gold miner Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. had paid Indonesia about $1 billion since 2004, including protection money at the Grasberg mine that has sparked a U.S. government inquiry, Chief Executive Officer Richard Adkerson said.

All payments were ``fully disclosed,'' and New Orleans- based Freeport spent about $6 million to $7 million annually to guard the mine, Adkerson said today in an interview as quoted by Bloomberg. Between 1998 and 2004, Freeport paid military and police officials almost $20 million, the New York Times reported last month, citing company records it had obtained.

``The amounts we're talking about are not unreasonable,'' Adkerson said. ``We're not sure where the amounts came from'' that were reported by the New York Times, he said.

The U.S. government made inquiries since the article and an editorial were published, Adkerson said. The $1 billion in payments includes taxes, royalties and profit from the government's 9.36 percent stake in Grasberg, the world's biggest gold mine and second-biggest copper mine.

``People know we are in a remote area and have to have unusual efforts to be sure we can operate with the 20,000 employees we have and all the other boom-town people to the south'' of the mine, Freeport Chairman James Moffett said on a conference call with analysts and investors.

Freeport reported record net income in the fourth quarter, which more than doubled from a year earlier to $478.3 million, or $2.19 a share after the payment of dividends. Sales jumped 61 percent to $1.49 billion, mostly because of higher metals prices.(*)