Freeport-McMoRan Inc., headquartered in Phoenix, is one of the world’s largest publicly traded copper producers.
It’s portfolio of assets includes the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia, one of the world’s largest copper and gold deposits.
The company recently disclosed:
“We are required to comply with a wide range of laws and regulations in the countries where we operate or do business. For example, our international operations must comply with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and similar anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws of the other jurisdictions in which we operate. We are investigating whether activities of PT Smelting may have violated aspects of the FCPA or other laws, including laws of non-U.S. jurisdictions.
The disclosure continues:
“PT Smelting is an Indonesian joint venture between PTFI [PT Freeport Indonesia] and Mitsubishi Materials Corporation (MMC), and an affiliate of MMC serves as operator of PT Smelting. As previously reported, we voluntarily notified the SEC and DOJ that we engaged outside counsel to conduct the investigation of PT Smelting’s activities. Any determination that operations or activities are not in compliance with existing laws, including the FCPA, could result in the imposition of fines, penalties and equitable remedies. We cannot currently predict the outcome of our investigation.”
