Freeport-McMoRan reduces its first-quarter gold sales estimate

Freeport-McMoRan, a gold miner in the United States, lowered its first-quarter forecast on Monday after timing issues with Indonesian shipments led to deferrals of some of its quarterly production.

Freeport, which operates Indonesia's Grasberg mine, one of the largest gold and cobalt mines in the world, had built a smelter as part of a operating agreement with Jakarta officials. The smelter in question was destroyed by fire last year, and it was closed.

Freeport, however, said that it had received regulatory approvals for the export of concentrates from Indonesia on March 17 and had resumed the temporarily restricted shipments.

The company expects to sell 100,000 ounces less gold in the first quarter than its previous forecast of 225,000 ounces.

Freeport said that it expects the average realized copper price to be around $4.40 a pound for the first quarter. This compares with $3.94 a pound realized one year ago.

The miner is scheduled to release its quarterly results by April 25. According to data compiled from LSEG, analysts expect the company will post an adjusted profit per share of 22 cents for the first three months. Reporting by Vallari Shrivastava, Bengaluru. Editing by Alan Barona.

(source: Reuters)