Earnings Per Share (Unaudited) (Details) (USD $) In Millions, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2012	Jun. 30, 2011	Jun. 30, 2012		Jun. 30, 2011
Earnings Per Share [Abstract]
Net income	$ 894	$ 1,726	$ 1,895		$ 3,587
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests	(184)	(358)	(421)		(720)
Net income attributable to FCX common stockholders	$ 710	$ 1,368	$ 1,474		$ 2,867
Weighted-average shares of common stock outstanding	949	947	949		947
Add stock issuable upon exercise or vesting of:
Dilutive stock options (in shares)	3	8	4	[1]	8
Restricted stock units (in shares)	1	1	1		1
Weighted-average shares of common stock outstanding for purposes of calculating diluted net income per share (in shares)	953	956	954		956
Diluted net income per share attributable to FCX common stockholders (in dollars per share)	$ 0.74	$ 1.43	$ 1.55		$ 3.00
Potential anti-dilutive additional shares of common stock (in shares)			1
Outstanding stock options with exercise prices greater than average market price of common stock	25	5	17		2
Weighted-average exercise price of outstanding stock options not in-the-money	$ 42.53	$ 55.77	$ 44.73		$ 55.90

[1] approximately one million shares of common stock with exercise prices less than the average market price of FCX's common stock during the period that were anti-dilutive based on the treasury stock method.