Kathleen Quirk said Freeport-McMoRan can increase its US copper production by 60% over the next four years out of assets it already owns, and that even so the industry cannot close the deficit that is coming.
Copper fell hard that day on the absence of news — the administration reportedly still has no decision on copper tariffs — and Freeport had its worst session since June after entering the day up 50% for the year. Quirk's answer was that tariffs are not what a mine gets built on.
"What we're looking at for the long term for our investments is the overall supply and demand fundamentals, which really look compelling for the copper markets."
Quirk is Chief Executive of Freeport-McMoRan, which she says produces 70% of the refined copper supplied to the US market from its own US operations.
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👤 Guest: Kathleen Quirk, Chief Executive of Freeport-McMoRan
🎙️ Host: Morgan Brennan, a CNBC anchor and reporter, with Melissa Lee anchoring
📰 Published: 10 September 2026 on CNBC's Closing Bell Overtime
🟣 Apple Podcasts | 🔗 Episode page | ⏱️ 8 min
Key Takeaways
Freeport can lift US copper production 60% over four years from assets it already operates
These are brownfield expansions on a 3-4 year horizon, against about 17 years for a new mine
A tariff is not something she will underwrite a decades-long investment against, because nobody knows how long it lasts
She produces 70% of the refined copper going into the US market and calls the company America's copper champion
Substitution has been discussed for years and does not work for electrification, on her account, because of copper's conductivity
S&P Global's deficit work implies ten new mines a year, which she says is not achievable — and that is why prices are where they are
1. No Tariff News Moved It
Morgan Brennan opened on the day's move: copper and Freeport fell on a report that the Trump administration has not made a decision on copper tariffs, which the market had been anticipating.
Quirk declined the tariff frame entirely. "So at Freeport, in terms of the tariffs, we're watching it, but like you said, there was no news really."
What she says she is underwriting instead is demand. Everything is becoming more electrified, which raises the amount of copper used per unit of output, while new supply gets harder: "The copper intensity of use is increasing at the same time, where supplies are more and more challenging to come to market."
The investment test is explicitly long-horizon. "What we're looking at for the long term for our investments is the overall supply and demand fundamentals, which really look compelling for the copper markets."
2. America's Copper Champion
Brennan's second question was about the advantage of being the largest domestic producer while Washington tries to build a US supply chain.
Quirk gave the share first. She said the company calls itself "America's copper champion" because Freeport produces 70% of the copper produced in the US and the refined copper supplied to the US market
The assets are old and, she says, not finished. Freeport has mined at scale in the US for a very long time, and the change is that the world now needs more of what those mines make
The growth is engineering rather than acquisition. "And so what we're doing is looking to innovation, technology, brownfield expansion in the U.S. and so we have this opportunity in the U.S. to increase our copper production by 60% over the next four years."
3. Brownfield In 3-4 Years
Brennan put the standard objection to any copper supply answer: a new mine takes around 17 years from discovery to production.
Quirk separated the two kinds of project. Seventeen years is a greenfield mine. What Freeport is doing is brownfield — expansion at existing operations — and "You can do them much more quickly, something more like a 3 to 4 year horizon."
On Washington she was warm but non-committal. "But the administration has been very supportive of our industry." She said the level of engagement on copper as a critical metal, and on mining and processing in the US, has been welcome
Tariff policy is government policy, and not an investment case. Her reason for not building a plan around it is duration: you do not know how long a tariff may or may not be in place, and the investments last far longer than that
The goal she stated is self-sufficiency. Modernize the existing US business, invest in it, make it more valuable, and help the US copper market become less dependent on imports
4. Substitution Doesn't Work
Asked whether demand is really durable, given reports of data centers engineering their way around copper, Quirk went to the physics.
She acknowledged the debate is old. "There's always talk about and there has been for years about substitution."
Her argument is conductivity. Copper's properties make it a superior product, and while value engineering always looks for alternatives, "But for the major electrification that's going on, you can't do it without copper."
She repeated a comparison she attributed to others. "Some people are even saying copper is more important than oil today"
5. Ten New Mines A Year
The last exchange was about whether even a 60% increase is enough, with S&P Global projecting global consumption up 50% by 2040.
Her answer was no, and the 60% is only part of her own pipeline. That figure is the US portfolio alone; there is a large growth project in Chile currently in permitting and continued reinvestment in large-scale production in Indonesia. "So no, it's not enough."
The industry-level requirement is the number that matters. She cited an S&P Global report from earlier in the year showing multi-million ton deficits, and "So they're saying it's going to take ten new mines a year to be able to do this."
Asked whether a deficit is therefore a foregone conclusion, she said the mines are not available to build. "They're at incentive levels to try to get people to, to make these investments, but they have very long lead time." — and "And that's why you're seeing prices where they are."
Her answer to the shortfall is productivity rather than capital. Inflation is a factor, so the work is on growing production without heavy capital intensity, using technology to become more efficient and produce more copper from the same asset base
Quirk's bottom line is that the copper price is already at levels meant to bring on new supply, and that the supply cannot arrive fast enough regardless of what happens to tariffs.
Bonus Insights
The day's move is worth the context. Freeport had its worst day since June, after entering the session up 50% for the year, on a news report that there was no news on tariffs
Her comparison for what mining has not yet had is the shale revolution. Technology has run through other industries and transformed oil and gas production; she said mining has not had that, and getting it is how she expects to add output without adding proportional capital
She framed strategy as playing to the asset base rather than chasing the cycle, which is the same reason she gave for ignoring the tariff headline
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