Sale of Freeport not currently on the cards, its CEO says

The sale of Freeport-McMoRan is not currently on the cards, particularly given the backdrop of its weaker share price, according to the chief executive officer of the US copper and gold producer.

The mining company has been linked in recent months to a potential deal with Canada-based Barrick Gold, whose CEO Mark Bristow recently said he expects mergers and acquisitions activity in metals and mining to be "dynamic" in the coming months.
But Freeport's Richard Adkerson said a sale of the company at a time when its assets were significantly undervalued would not happen.
"You've just got to ask the question, why would our shareholders consider selling now when we have the coming together of the trough of our production at Grasberg, the trough of copper prices, and where we're meeting what the market had perceived as risk for our capex spending going forward?" Adkerson said.

"Now we're in a world where we've...

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