Freeport-McMoRan, Inc.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Freeport-McMoran first quarter conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session. If you wish to ask a question during the Q&A session, press star 1 on your touchtone phone. If you require assistance during the conference, please press star 0. I would now like to turn the conference over to Ms. Kathleen Quirk, President. Please go ahead, ma'am.

Thank you, and good morning. Welcome to the Freeport-McMoran conference call. Earlier this morning, we reported first quarter 2022 operating and financial results, and a copy of our press release and slides are available on our website at fcx.com. Our conference call today is being broadcast live on the Internet, and anyone may listen to the call by accessing our website homepage and clicking on the webcast link for the conference call. In addition to analysts and investors, the financial press has been invited to listen to today's call and a replay of the webcast will be available on our website later today. Before we begin our comments, we'd like to remind everyone that today's press release and certain of our comments on the call include forward-looking statements and actual results may differ materially. We'd like to refer everyone to the cautionary language included in our press release and presentation materials and to the risk factors described in our annual report on Form 10-K. On the call with me today are Richard Ackerson, our chairman and CEO. We'd also like to welcome Marie Robertson, our new CFO. She's joining us today on the call, and Marie joined us in March. We're delighted to have her on our team. Mark Johnson is on, who's the COO of our Indonesian business. Josh Olmstead. who's the COO of our Americas business. Mike Kendrick is on, who runs our global molybdenum business. And Steve Higgins is also on today, our chief administrative officer. Richard's going to start by making some opening comments, and then we'll be going through the slide materials and the outlook included in our slide materials. So, Richard, I'll turn it to you.

Thanks, Kathleen. We're going to follow a new format for our earnings presentation today. This format reflects the current position of our company after years, literally years, of having to deal with significant company-specific problems that are now largely behind us. We have a clear mission in Freeport, and that is to be foremost in copper. I will make some very brief opening comments. Kathleen will review our positive first quarter results. our positive outlook, and then we'll be available to answer questions. The case for copper as a commodity is strong. I've been saying this for 20 years, but it's never been better. Demand is growing globally. Growth is no longer dependent solely on China. With COVID recovery, infrastructure spending, the spread of electricity everywhere, it's generating significant growth in Europe. Business is strong in the U.S., and in Asia outside China. The coming demand for carbon reduction and its impact on copper demand is truly extraordinary, and it's coming. It's beginning, but it's not here now. Copper supply development for many reasons is challenging. As I said recently, the supply challenge can't be solved simply by higher prices. I find it notable that the price of copper today is $4.50 in a world where there are a whole series of economic headwinds. Many of these are transitory. Higher copper prices in the future are likely, and I'm very comfortable with Freeport's strategy of focusing its business on copper. Our strategy to achieve our mission of being foremost in copper is straightforward. We will execute our operating plan safely and responsibly. We have an unmatched set of globally diverse copper producing assets. We are taking advantage of emerging technology involving data analytics, new work practices, and increasingly important advancing in leaching technology where Freeport is well positioned as a global leader in leaching. We will be developing organic growth projects in a disciplined way over time from our large set of undeveloped resources. We will execute our financial plan. maintain our currently strong balance sheet while returning significant cash to shareholders. Other opportunities for Freeport may arise, and we're positioned to take advantage if they do, but our strategy is focused internally. Here's a few points I suggest you note in Kathleen's presentation. Look at our strong execution of our plans in the first quarter. Look at our success in meeting the challenges of higher input costs. both through effective cost management and the benefit of past strategic decision. For example, the long-term development of the Grasberg mine and its high copper and gold rates, higher gold prices are helping to offset input cost increases. Note our positive situation in Indonesia with our partner shareholder, MindID, with the government of Indonesia, local communities, and workforce. We worked hard to achieve this. Our environmental performance in a very challenging location is exemplary in Indonesia. The financial results are spectacular, reflecting the good work of our PTFI team and literally three decades of efforts and investments getting to where we are today. We're progressing with the development of a new large-scale smelter in Indonesia. Our recent international bond financing at PTFI was a major milestone for our company. Our team achieved investment grade ratings and there was strong market reception for this $3 billion financing. Looking back years ago, I wouldn't have envisioned our ability to do this. Two-thirds of our coverage produced in America is where our team is operating effectively and where we have significant growth for the future. And finally, I want to briefly note steps we have taken this past year to build a high-quality, sustainable board of directors and a sustainable management team for the future. These are commitments I personally made to myself a year ago when I became chairman. We've added six new directors in a year. You'll be able to see the details on this in our proxy, which will soon be available. Four of these six are individuals with significant international large company CEO experience. Two have significant business and financial expertise. Together with the four continuing independent directors, we now have a high-quality board, one that Freeport has long deserved. Building this board is a highlight of my personal professional career. At the same time, we've made important changes to our management team. Kathleen mentioned that Marie has recently joined us as our CFO. At a young age, she has a distinguished career in international mining. We've made a number of transitions of important positions with internal promotions and added significant capabilities with external hires, particularly in the ESP area. We now have a younger, more diverse management team at Freeport. They are great people who embrace the special culture we have with the Freeport global family. I'm personally excited about continuing as a member of this team, blessed to be in good health and energy. I am confident knowing that Freeport now has a board management team that is capable of achieving our mission and executing a strategy beyond my tenure. With that, Kathleen, I'll turn it over to you.