Freeport in Discussions to Sell Stakes in Core Assets

The Bloomberg rumor mill is reporting that FCX is in discussions to sell some of their North and South American assets, a deal that could fetch as much as $2 billion. The company, bedraggled by debt, has been selling assets all over the world since February. The net result has been of a positive nature, with the share price more than trebling, yields on their bonds plunging, and overall sentiment bullish.

Freeport-McMoRan North American assets include seven open-pit copper mines, Morenci, Bagdad, Sierrita, Safford and Miami in Arizona, and Chino and Tyrone in New Mexico, and two molybdenum mines – Henderson and Climax in Colorado.

Its South American assets include two copper mines in South America – Cerro Verde in Peru and El Abra in Chile

Citic Metals is one of the rumored buyers, for a package deal that would include 20% of all or some of the above assets.