On October 22, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX), a gold mining company in the U.S. announced its production and sales volumes in the period from July to September in 2015.

This announcement shows the production volume of molybdenum concentrates (in pure Mo equivalent) was 13 million lbs at primary mines and 10 million lbs at by-product mines, which totalled 23 million lbs, down by 4.2% from the year-earlier period.

The Company's primary mines for molybdenum are Henderson mine and Climax mine, both of which are located in Colorado, USA. By-product mines are 4 mines located in North America such as Sierrita mine, Bagdad mine, Morenci mine and Chino mine, and the mine in South America is Cerro Verde mine.

In the period from July to September, the average Mo content at primary mines was 0.20%, up from 0.19% in the year-earlier period, but the ore volume processed per day decreased by 6.4%, which led to the production being unchanged from the year-earlier period as a result of being balanced out by the decrease in the ore volume processed. On the other hand, the production volume at by-product mines in North America was up, whereas the one in South America was drastically down.

The sales volume of molybdenum in the period from July to September excluding what was purchased from outside was 23 million lbs, up by 4.5% from the year-earlier period. Besides, the Company anticipates the sales volume of molybdenum in the period from October to December in 2015 to be 21 million lbs (unchanged from the year-earlier period) and the one in the full year (from January to December) to be 90 million lbs (down by 5.3% from the year-earlier period).

The production volume (based on 100%) of cobalt in the period from July to September was 9 million lbs, up by 12.5% from the year-earlier period, and the sales volume was 10 million lbs, up by 25.0% ditto. 

• [Editor:Sophie]