Copper mining giant Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX) will consider ways to refinance some of its debt as well as pay down its borrowings as the company looks for opportunities to cut costs.

"Our funding costs of new debt instruments will be significantly lower" than the current interest and coupons on company bonds, chief financial officer Kathleen Quirk said on the company's fourth-quarter earnings conference call. Freeport had $3.5 billion in debt as at Dec. 31, 2011.

"We will be looking at how much to refinance versus repay...we still have significant capacity for additional debt if we have uses for the cash," Quirk said.

Freeport has been steadily reducing its reliance on credit since amassing $17.5 billion in debt in 2007 when the company acquired competitor Phelps Dodge. The company has repaid $3.8 billion in debt since January 2009, resulting in estimated savings of around $260 million, it said.

-By Tatyana Shumsky, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-3095; tatyana.shumsky@dowjones.com

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