PHOENIX (Indonesia Today) – Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX) reported, as expected, Indonesia’s first-quarter 2013 gold sales of 191 thousand ounces, lower than first-quarter 2012 gold sales of 266 thousand ounces, primarily as a result of lower ore grades from mine sequencing.
Indonesia’s first-quarter 2013 copper sales of 198 million pounds were higher than first-quarter 2012 copper sales of 134 million pounds when labor-related disruptions affected operations. Productivity measures have continued to improve resulting in first-quarter 2013 daily mill throughput averaging 199,400 metric tons per day, including 59,000 metric tons per day from the Deep Ore Zone (DOZ) underground mine.
At the Grasberg mine, the sequencing of mining areas with varying ore grades causes fluctuations in the timing of ore production resulting in varying quarterly and annual sales of copper and gold.