By their very nature, mining operations can have a sizable effect on the world around them. We make it a priority to minimize the environmental impact of our processes by operating our facilities in a responsible and sustainable way, responding quickly if environmental problems arise and taking steps to prevent them from happening again.

Through our comprehensive Environmental Policy, we commit to:

• Sound environmental management and practices.

• Adequate resources to fulfill our responsibilities.

• Comprehensive monitoring to assess our effectiveness.

• Continuous improvement of our performance. 

  
Our global policies call for routine internal and external environmental audits to assess our environmental compliance, management systems and practices. These audits provide our management with information on current environmental performance and help identify opportunities for improvement. FCX facilities respond to the audits with action plans to implement suggestions made by the auditors.

At Freeport-McMoRan we respect the public’s right to know. We file reports as required by the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act (EPCRA), an act that provides the public with information about the amount of materials used by industry in the United States.

Most industries report on chemicals and other substances released during the manufacturing process. However, the vast majority of material our mining facilities report occurs naturally in the rocks we mine, process and store on our property. While these substances occur in low concentrations in the rock, mines report high volumes of materials because we move a large amount of rock in the production process.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold is also committed to obtaining ISO 14001 certification for all our operations. This international standard signifies that a facility or company has systems in place to monitor and minimize environmental impacts and to drive continuous improvement in protecting the environment. Our major sites, including the Grasberg mine in Indonesia as well as our mines in the United States, Chile, and Peru all hold ISO 14001 certification. We implement environmental management systems consistent with these operations in all new developments.

We have adopted the principles of the Sustainable Development Framework of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM www.icmm.com), of which we are a member.

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