Freeport will add up to 250 as it resumes Miami mining

Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. will add up to 250 jobs over the next year as it resumes copper mining at Miami, the company said Tuesday. The Phoenix-based mining giant said it has already started moving mining equipment to the Miami mine and will begin hiring this quarter. Freeport disclosed the new operation as it announced improved third-quarter results in its worldwide mining business due to higher metal prices and aggressive cost-cutting. The firm is reinstating an annual cash dividend to stockholders of 60 cents per share. "With the economy the way it is, any type of employment is going to be a huge impact," said Ray Pini, town administrator for Miami. The economically depressed area of Miami, Claypool and Globe in Gila County has about 15,000 residents who rely heavily on mining and government jobs. In October 2008, the company postponed plans to restart the Miami mine and to expand the Sierrita Mine south-southwest of Tucson and the Bagdad Mine between Prescott and Lake Havasu City. Late last year and early in 2009, the company announced Arizona layoffs of more than 2,000 workers, mostly at its Morenci Mine. In Tuesday's report, Freeport said restarting mining at Miami "will improve efficiencies of ongoing reclamation projects associated with historical mining operations at the site." "Over the next year, the work force at Miami is planned to increase by about 200 to 250 employees from the current work force of about 700," said company spokesman Eric Kinneberg. The company estimates that production will ramp up to about 100 million pounds of copper per year by the second half of 2011. The mine has an estimated life of five years. Freeport initially planned to invest $100 million in the project, but said it is cutting that to about $40 million by transferring mining equipment from other North American sites. The future at those other mines is less clear. The company said only that they continue to be reviewed and operations will be adjusted in response to market changes. The company, which also mines in South America, Indonesia and Africa, is continuing to operate at reduced rates at some of its North American mines due to reduced demand for copper in the Western world. But in the third quarter net income jumped to $925 million, or $2.07 a share, from $523 million, or $1.31, a year earlier, the company reported. Freeport's consolidated copper sales in North America totaled 303 million pounds in the third quarter of 2009, 16 percent lower than the same period last year.f