Contingencies and Commitments (Unaudited)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2019

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingencies

CONTINGENCIES AND COMMITMENTS

Litigation

There were no significant updates to previously reported legal proceedings included in Note 12 of FCX’s 2018 Form 10-K, other than the matter below.

As discussed in Note 12 of FCX’s 2018 Form 10-K, there has been a significant increase in the number of cases alleging the presence of asbestos contamination in talc-based personal care products and in cases alleging exposure to talc products that are not alleged to be contaminated with asbestos. The primary targets have been the producers of those products, but defendants in many of these cases also include talc miners. Cyprus Amax Minerals Company (CAMC), an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of FCX, and Cyprus Mines Corporation (Cyprus Mines), a wholly owned subsidiary of CAMC, are among those targets. Cyprus Mines was engaged in talc mining from 1964 until 1992 when it exited its talc business by conveying it to a third party in two related transactions. Those transactions involved (i) a transfer by Cyprus Mines of the assets of its talc business to a newly formed subsidiary that assumed all pre-sale and post-sale talc liabilities, subject to limited reservations, and (ii) a sale of the stock of that subsidiary to the third party. In 2011, the third party sold that subsidiary to Imerys Talc America (Imerys), an affiliate of Imerys S.A.

Cyprus Mines has contractual indemnification rights, subject to limited reservations, against Imerys, which has historically acknowledged those indemnification obligations, and had taken responsibility for all cases tendered to it. However, on February 13, 2019, Imerys filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which triggered an immediate automatic stay under the federal bankruptcy code prohibiting any party from continuing or initiating litigation or asserting new claims against Imerys. As a result, Imerys is no longer defending the talc lawsuits against Cyprus Mines and CAMC. In addition, Imerys has taken the position that it alone owns, and has the sole right to access, the proceeds of the legacy insurance coverage of Cyprus Mines and CAMC for talc liabilities. In late March 2019, Cyprus Mines and CAMC challenged this position and obtained emergency relief from the bankruptcy court to gain access to the insurance until the question of ownership and contractual access can be decided in an adversary proceeding before the bankruptcy court, which is currently scheduled for August 2019.

On March 13, 2019, in a case pending at the time Imerys filed bankruptcy, a California jury entered a $29 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson and Cyprus Mines, of which approximately $2 million was attributed to Cyprus Mines. Taking advantage of the temporary access to the insurance authorized by the bankruptcy court, Cyprus Mines used the insurance to fully resolve the case. Cyprus Mines and the insurers also settled several other cases set for trial over the succeeding 90 days. Several trials have been scheduled in July and August 2019, and others may be scheduled prior to the adversary proceeding regarding the legacy insurance.

FCX believes that Cyprus Mines and CAMC each has strong defenses to legal liability and that both should have access to the legacy insurance to cover defense costs, settlements and judgments, at least until the bankruptcy court decides otherwise or the insurance is exhausted. At this time, FCX cannot estimate the range of possible loss associated with these proceedings, but it does not currently believe the amount of any such losses are material to its consolidated financial statements. However, there can be no assurance that future developments will not alter this conclusion.

Other Matters

In March 2019, PT-FI’s export license was extended to March 8, 2020, and PT Smelting (PT-FI’s 25 percent-owned smelter and refinery in Indonesia) received an extension of its anode slimes export license through March 11, 2020.