Earnings Per Share (Unaudited) (Details) (USD $) In Millions, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2013	Jun. 30, 2012	Jun. 30, 2013	Jun. 30, 2012
Earnings Per Share [Abstract]
Net income	$ 610	$ 894	$ 1,434	$ 1,895
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests	(125)	(184)	(301)	(421)
Preferred dividends on redeemable noncontrolling interest	(3)	0	(3)	0
Net income attributable to FCX common stockholders	$ 482	$ 710	$ 1,130	$ 1,474
Weighted-average shares of common stock outstanding	980	949	965	949
Add shares issuable upon exercise or vesting of dilutive stock options and restricted stock units	4	4	3	5	[1]
Weighted-average shares of common stock outstanding for purposes of calculating diluted net income per share (in shares)	984	953	968	954
Diluted net income per share attributable to FCX common stockholders (in dollars per share)	$ 0.49	$ 0.74	$ 1.17	$ 1.55
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	32	25	30	17
Weighted-average exercise price of outstanding stock options not in-the-money	$ 40.53	$ 42.53	$ 40.92	$ 44.73

[1] Excluded shares of common stock associated with outstanding stock options with exercise prices less than the average market price of FCX's common stock that were anti-dilutive based on the treasury stock method totaled approximately one million for the six months ended June 30, 2012.