Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. operations conduct environmental monitoring of ambient water and air quality, as well as our operations’ emissions and discharges, to continuously assess our performance and potential impacts on the environment. Monitoring is generally tailored to site-specific local, state and national regulatory requirements.

All Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. sites in North America and South America have either surface water or groundwater discharge permits or authorizations from a regulatory agency. These permits and authorizations require monitoring and reporting to ensure that appropriate water quality standards are being met in discharges to the environment. The types of water that are monitored at our sites include ambient groundwater and surface water, storm water runoff, point source discharges of process-related water and discharges of sanitary waste water. In addition to water chemistry, macro invertebrate populations are monitored in surface water bodies adjacent to some of our locations.

PT Freeport Indonesia’s long-term environmental monitoring program evaluates potential impacts of our operations by routinely measuring surface water quality, groundwater quality, biology, hydrology, sediments, air quality and meteorology in our area of operations. In a typical year, over 7,000 samples – resulting in over 50,000 separate analyses – are completed. These data are used for regulatory reporting as well as to develop the information necessary for making environmental management decisions.

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