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.

"The increased mining and milling activities are expected to expose additional ore and enable copper production to increase by approximately 125 million lbs annually beginning in 2011," Freeport said.

"Operating plans at the other North America sites are being assessed and adjustments will be made based on market conditions," it added.

Mine rates at Safford and Tyrone were cut by a similar amount when Morenci's mine rates was reduced, while mining activities at the Chino mine were suspended and the restart of the Miami mine was deferred.

But as copper prices more than doubled through 2009, the company in October said it planned to restart activities at Miami. Freeport will ramp up annual copper production at Miami to about 100 million lbs by the second half of 2011 and is investing $40 million in the project, which is benefiting from the use of existing mining equipment.

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