By Ernest Scheyder
(Reuters) – Freeport-McMoRan Inc is set to approve expansions at several U.S. copper mines to capitalize on surging demand for the red metal as President Joe Biden moves to electrify the nation’s automobiles and combat climate change, Chief Executive Richard Adkerson told Reuters.
The expansions would be a major bet on the U.S. economy – one of the company’s largest markets – and also on the rising demand for electric vehicles (EVs), which use twice as much copper as internal combustion engines.
Adkerson also said he has no desire to combine Freeport with Barrick Gold Corp or another gold producer; is working to inoculate about 25,000 workers at Indonesia’s Grasberg copper mine against COVID-19; and wants to double the size of the company’s board of directors.
(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; editing by Amran Abocar)
