Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX) is initiating plans for a staged ramp-up at its Morenci mine in Arizona to 635,000 metric tons of ore a day and is evaluating further possible increases, it said Wednesday.

This is up from 450,000 tons a day currently and follows the restart of the mill associated with Morenci in March, to process available sulfide material currently being mined.

Operating rates at the mine were cut by around 50% in late 2008 in response to weak market conditions.

Daily mill throughput at Morenci was initially expected to approximate 30,000 tons of ore, rising to around 50,000 tons by 2011.

-By Andrea Hotter, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9413; andrea.hotter@dowjones.com
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