traded as nyse fcx s & p 500 component industry metals and mining petroleum industry founded 1912 ; 104 years ago 1912 headquarters freeport mcmoran center phoenix arizona united states area served worldwide key people gerald j. ford chairman richard adkerson vice chairman president & ceo kathleen l. quirk executive vice president cfo & treasurer 1 products copper gold molybdenum petroleum revenue us 15.877 billion 2015 1 operating income us 13.382 billion 2015 1 net income us 12.089 billion 2015 1 total assets us 46.577 billion 2015 1 total equity us 12.044 billion 2015 1 number of employees 34 500 including 12 400 in the u.s. 12 100 in indonesia 5 200 in south america 3 400 in africa 1 400 in europe and other locations 1 subsidiaries pt freeport indonesia pt irja eastern minerals atlantic copper s.a. website fcx.com freeport mcmoran inc. fmcg often called freeport is a mining company based in the freeport mcmoran center in downtown phoenix arizona united states . contents 1 current operations 1.1 north america 1.2 south america 1.3 europe 1.4 africa 1.5 indonesia 2 history 2.1 1950s 2.2 1960s 2.2.1 development of the ertsberg deposit 2.3 1970s 2.4 1980s 2.5 1990s 2.6 2000s 2.7 management history 2.7.1 criticism of board members by project censored 2.8 environmental human rights and corruption controversies at the grasberg mine 2.8.1 strikes 2.9 environmental record 2.10 human rights record 3 references 4 company publications 5 external links current operations edit freeport is the largest copper and molybdenum producer in the world . 1 in 2015 67 % of revenues were from the sale of copper 11 % were from the sale of petroleum 10 % from the sale of gold and 5 % from the sale of molybdenum . 1 in 2015 sales to phillips 66 accounted for 7 % of the total revenues of the company . 1 the company lists its mining operations as follows north america edit morenci arizona 85 % owned by fmcg copper 2 bagdad arizona 100 % owned copper molybdenum 3 sierrita arizona includes twin buttes & esperanza 100 % owned copper molybdenum 4 miami arizona 100 % owned copper 5 safford mine safford arizona 100 % owned copper 6 chino mine santa rita new mexico 100 % owned copper molybdenum 7 tyrone new mexico 100 % owned copper 8 henderson molybdenum mine empire colorado 100 % owned molybdenum 9 climax mine leadville colorado 100 % owned molybdenum 10 south america edit candelaria ojos del salado chile 80 % owned by fmcg copper el abra chile 51 % owned copper cerro verde peru 53.6 % owned copper molybdenum europe edit atlantic copper huelva spain copper refinery 11 africa edit tenke fungurume democratic republic of congo copper cobalt indonesia edit grasberg papua province indonesia 76.6 % owned by fmcg copper gold silver 4 3 10 s 137 6 57 e 4.05278 s 137.11583 e 4.05278 ; 137.11583 citation needed history edit freeport sulphur no. 6 entering freeport texas harbor 1923 the company was founded as the texas freeport sulphur company in 1912 as a sulfur mining company in freeport texas . 12 in 1928 concerned that the management of the company was not moving aggressively to increase reserves 25 year old investor langbourne meade williams jr. collaborated with payne whitney to launch a proxy fight and gain control of the company . 13 freeport pioneered mining sulphur at mines along the us gulf coast using the frasch process . 14 the company began to diversify in 1931 purchasing manganese deposits in oriente province cuba . 15 1950s edit the company produced nickel during world war ii and potash in the 1950s . 16 in 1955 freeport invested 119 million in constructing a nickel cobalt mine at moa bay cuba and a refinery at port nickel louisiana . on march 11 1957 the u.s. government announced a contract to buy freeport nickel and cobalt from cuba until june 30 1965 as strategic commodities . fidel castro s government nationalized the cuban facility in 1960 . 17 in 1956 the company formed freeport oil company . 16 in 1958 the company sold an oil discovery near lake washington in louisiana for approximately 100 million to magnolia petroleum company . 16 1960s edit in 1961 the company entered the kaolin business after purchasing the assets of southern clays inc. 16 in 1964 the company formed freeport of australia to pursue mining opportunities there and in the surrounding pacific ocean region . 16 development of the ertsberg deposit edit main article grasberg mine in 1960 freeport geologists confirmed the dutch discovery of the rich ertsberg copper and gold deposits now known as the grasberg mine in extremely rugged remote country in the jayawijaya mountains in then netherlands new guinea . 18 in 1966 freeport founded freeport indonesia inc. the subsidiary negotiated a contract with the indonesian government to develop the ertsberg deposit . in their feasibility study freeport geologists estimated that the orebody totaled 33 million tons averaging 2.5 % copper . the ertsberg was the largest above ground copper deposit ever discovered . 19 construction of an open pit mine began in may 1970 and in mid 1973 the mine was declared fully operational . officials at bechtel the primary project contractor called mine development at ertsberg the most difficult engineering project they had ever undertaken . the challenges included building a 101 kilometres 63 mi long access road a project that required boring kilometer long tunnels through two mountains and constructing the world s longest single span aerial tramway . the tramways were needed to move people supplies and ore because a 2 000 feet 610 m cliff separates the ertsberg mine at 12 000 feet 3 700 m elevation from the mill at 10 000 feet . moving copper concentrate from that mill to the shipping port required installation of a 109 kilometres 68 mi slurry pipeline then the world s longest . mine construction and startup cost about us 200 million . the ertsberg project was an engineering marvel but the mine s early financial performance was disappointing . depressed copper prices and high operating costs kept profits marginal during the 1970s . 19 1970s edit in 1971 the company changed its name to freeport minerals company to reflect its role as a diversified mineral producer . 18 1980s edit in 1981 freeport minerals company merged with the mcmoran oil and gas company . the mcmoran oil and gas company was founded in 1967 by three partners william kennon mcwilliams jr. mc james robert jim bob moffett mo who were both petroleum geologists and byron mclean rankin jr. ran a specialist in land leasing and sales operations . 18 kent mcwilliams died 1997 was as knowledgeable of the micro paleontology of the louisiana and texas coasts as any geologist of the twentieth century . mcmoran s incredible record in hitting paydirt was based on the fundamental petro geological learning of the founder and the young geologist he began mentoring in the early 1960s . in 1981 the company formed a 70 30 joint venture with an affiliate of fmc corporation to operate a gold mine in jerrit canyon nevada . 20 in 1982 freeport gold company was the world s largest gold producer producing 196 000 troy ounces 6 100 kg of gold in its first full year of operation . 16 in 1985 the company headquarters were moved to new orleans louisiana . 13 in 1985 the company sold a 25 % interest in some oil and gas reserves to britoil for 73.5 million . 21 in 1989 freeport sold about 1.5 billion in assets to finance the development of the grasberg mine and the main pass sulfur oil gas deposit offshore from louisiana . 22 1990s edit in 1994 freeport mcmoran spun off its entire interest in freeport mcmoran copper & gold which became an independent company fully focused on the indonesian operation . in 1995 rtz a predecessor of rio tinto made a 450 million investment in the company . 23 in 1997 imc global a large fertilizer producer acquired freeport mcmoran inc. the former parent company that now owned the sulfur and fertilizer businesses in a 750 million transaction . shareholders of freeport mcmoran received shares of imc global . 24 the indonesian government asked freeport to substantiate bre x s claims of having found the largest gold mine ever discovered . in 1997 the company announced that its prospective partner bre x did not have gold reserves at its indonesian mine as it had reported . bre x subsequently was exposed as a fraud and went bankrupt . 25 in 1998 low commodity prices forced the company to suspend its dividend . 26 2000s edit in 2003 the company was subpoenas as a result of an investigation by anti trust authorities in the united states canada and europe regarding price fixing in the copper industry . 27 in 2006 the company acquired phelps dodge to become the world s largest public copper company with an enterprise value of 37.5 billion . the corporate headquarters was moved from new orleans louisiana to phoenix arizona . 28 in 2012 the company announced agreements to acquire affiliated companies mcmoran exploration company and plains exploration & production company for a total enterprise value of over 20 billion . the transaction added significantly to the company s petroleum assets . 29 the transactions were criticized as being a conflict of interest due to the common ownership of the companies . 30 in 2014 the company sold assets in the eagle ford shale to encana for 3.1 billion . 31 in 2015 the company announced job cuts at its sierrita mine in arizona due to low copper and molybdenum prices . 32 in 2016 the company announced the sale of a 13 % interest in its morenci mine to sumitomo group for 1 billion in cash . 33 management history edit notable historical members of the board of directors have included john hay whitney kidder peabody & co. chauncey stillman godfrey stillman rockefeller augustus long robert a. lovett jean mauz henry kissinger 1988 1995 and george putnam of putnam investments . on december 28 2015 the company announced that james r. moffett would step down as chairman of the company and would be replaced as chairman by gerald j. ford . moffett received 16.1 million in severance pay and cash retirement plans totaling more than 63 million . moffett continued to consult for the company for annual fees of 1.5 million . 34 the current board members are listed on the company website . 35 criticism of board members by project censored edit project censored has stated that the board of directors of freeport mcmoran represents a portion of the global 1 percent who not only control the largest gold and copper mining company in the world but who are also interconnected by board membership with over two dozen major multinational corporations banks foundations military and policy groups . this twelve member board is a tight network of individuals who are interlocked with and influence the policies of other major companies controlling approximately 200 billion in annual revenues . 36 environmental human rights and corruption controversies at the grasberg mine edit main article grasberg mine freeport operates the world s largest and most profitable gold mine the grasberg mine in papua indonesia . in 2005 the new york times reported that freeport paid local military and police generals colonels majors and captains and military units a total of nearly us 20 million between 1998 and 2004 . one individual received up to us 150 000 . the payments were meant to secure the reserve . freeport responded that the payments were not for individuals but rather for infrastructure food housing fuel travel vehicle repairs and allowances to cover incidental and administrative costs . according to the report anonymous sources within the company also claimed that company chairman james r. moffet courted indonesia s dictator