Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) Risk Analysis

The waste rock (including overburden) and tailings produced in our mining operations represent our largest volume of mine waste material. Managing the volume of waste rock and tailings presents significant environmental, safety and engineering challenges and risks primarily relating to structural stability, geochemistry, water quality and dust generation. Management of this waste is regulated in the jurisdictions where we operate and our programs are designed to comply with applicable national, state and local laws, permits and approved environmental impact studies. We maintain large stockpiles and tailings impoundments. Our leaching innovation initiatives include measures that are intended to enhance solution flow through our leach stockpiles, which may increase risks for solution spills or physical instability of such stockpiles. Tailings impoundments include large embankments that must be engineered, constructed and monitored to ensure structural stability and avoid structural collapse. Our tailings impoundments in arid areas must have effective programs to suppress fugitive dust emissions to meet regulatory requirements, which vary depending on location, and to limit potential impacts of dust emissions from our operations on surrounding communities and the environment. Additionally, we must effectively monitor, prevent and treat acid rock drainage at all of our operations. In Indonesia, we use a controlled riverine tailings management system, which presents other risks discussed in more detail in the risk factor below relating to the environmental challenges at our Indonesia mining operations. As of December 31, 2025, we operated 15 active tailings storage facilities (13 in the U.S. and 2 in Peru), of which 10 have an upstream design and 5 have a centerline design. Additionally, we have one centerline tailing storage facility in development. We also manage 9 tailings storage facilities in the U.S. that are inactive or closed (8 with an upstream design, and 1 with a centerline design) and another 45 that are deemed "safely closed" according to the definition in the Tailings Standard. In 2025, we produced approximately 326 million metric tons of tailings globally. The failure of tailings storage facilities, other embankments or stockpiles at any of our mining operations could cause severe, and in some cases catastrophic, property and environmental damage and loss of life, as well as adverse effects on our business and reputation. Some of our tailings storage facilities are located in areas where a failure has the potential to impact individual dwellings, and at least one of our impoundments is in an area where a failure has the potential to impact nearby communities or mining infrastructure. There can be no assurance that a severe or catastrophic failure of any of our facilities will not occur in the future. For further discussion regarding the company's tailings management and stewardship program, including our implementation of the requirements of the Tailings Standard, refer to Items 1. and 2. "Business and Properties." Based on observations from tailings failures at unaffiliated mines and our risk assessment process, which assesses a range of potential risks to our tailings storage facilities, in addition to fatalities and severe personal, property and environmental damages, these events could result in limited or restricted access to mine sites, physical failures at sites (such as overtopping of an impoundment), suspension of operations, decrease in mineral reserves, legal liability, government investigations, additional regulations and restrictions on mining operations in response to any such failure, increased monitoring costs and production costs, increased insurance costs or costs associated with insufficiency of or inability to obtain insurance, increased costs and/or limited access to capital, remediation costs, inability to comply with any additional safety requirements or obtain necessary certifications, evacuation or relocation of communities or other emergency action, impacts on occupational health and safety, social risks, and other impacts, which could have a material adverse effect on our operations and financial position.

We have assets in a variety of geographic locations, all of which exist in and around broader communities and environments. Maintaining the operational integrity and performance of our assets is crucial to protect our people, the environment and communities in which we operate. Our operations are very large in scale and, by their nature are subject to significant operational risks, some of which are outside of our control, and many of which are not covered fully, or in some cases even partially, by insurance. These operational risks, which could materially adversely affect our business, operating results and cash flows, include earthquakes, rainstorms, floods, landslides, wildfires and other natural disasters and extreme weather events; environmental hazards, including discharge of metals, concentrates, pollutants or hazardous chemicals; surface or underground fires; equipment failures; accidents, including in connection with mining equipment, milling equipment or conveyor systems, transportation of chemicals, explosives or other materials and in the transportation of employees and other individuals to and from sites (including where these services are provided by third parties such as vehicle and aircraft transport); wall failures and rock slides in our open-pit mines, and structural collapses of our underground mines or tailings impoundments; underground water and ore management; lower than expected ore grades or recovery rates; and seismic activity resulting from unexpected or difficult geological formations or conditions (whether in mineral or gaseous form). For a discussion of risks specific to our tailings management, see the risk factors below relating to our management of waste rock and tailings, including our river transport system for tailings management in Indonesia. We are facing continued geotechnical challenges because of the older age of some of our mines and a trend toward mining deeper pits and more complex deposits. There can be no assurance that unanticipated geotechnical and hydrological conditions may not occur, nor whether these conditions may lead to events such as landslides and pit wall failures, or that such events will be detected in advance. Geotechnical instabilities can be difficult to predict and are often affected by risks and hazards outside of our control, such as seismic activity or extreme weather, which have in the past and may in the future lead to floods, mudslides, pit-wall instability and possibly even slippage of material, which has and may in the future require suspension of operations and impact operating results. We also experience mining induced seismic activity, including landslides, from time to time in the Grasberg minerals district in addition to extreme weather. The mine site is in an active seismic area and has experienced earth tremors from time to time. In addition to the usual risks encountered in the mining industry, our Indonesia mining operations involve additional risks given their location in steep mountainous terrain in a remote area of Indonesia. These conditions have required us to overcome special engineering difficulties and develop extensive infrastructure facilities. The area also receives extreme rainfall, which has led to periodic floods and mudslides. We cannot predict whether weather-related or seismic events will occur in the future or the extent to which any such event would affect our operations. Underground mining operations have unique risks that can be particularly dangerous, such as those associated with supporting the underground openings, a cave not propagating as anticipated, unplanned ground movement occurring from changes in stresses released in the surrounding rock, excessive water ingress and the presence of fine materials may also give rise to unplanned releases of material of varying properties and of water through drawbells or other openings. In September 2025, an unprecedented and unforeseeable mud rush incident occurred at the Grasberg Block Cave underground mine, which resulted in seven fatalities. Refer to the risk factor above and MD&A for further discussion of the September 2025 mud rush incident. In May 2013, the rock structure above the ceiling of an underground training facility at the Big Gossan in the Grasberg minerals district collapsed, which resulted in 28 fatalities and 10 injuries. While we have implemented and will continue to implement preventative measures and enhanced operating procedures, we cannot guarantee that any incidents will not occur in the future. The occurrence of one or more of these operational risks in connection with our operations may result in the death of, or personal injury or illness to, our employees, other personnel or third parties, the loss of mining equipment, damage to or destruction of mineral properties or production facilities, significant repair costs, monetary losses, deferral or unanticipated fluctuations in production, extensive community disruption (including short- and long-term health and safety risks), loss of licenses, permits or necessary approvals to operate, loss of workforce confidence, loss of infrastructure and services, disruption to essential supplies or delivery of our products, environmental damage and potential legal liabilities, any of which may adversely affect our reputation, business, prospects, results of operations and financial position. Further, the impacts of any serious incidents that occur may also be amplified if we fail to respond timely or in an appropriate manner. In addition, we could also be subject to additional operational risks at our smelters and refineries, including those specific to PTFI. Any delay, suspension, loss of access, shutdown of affected facilities or limited availability and capacity related to these smelting and refinery facilities, including equipment or mechanical failures, fires, explosions, unanticipated or extended shutdowns, inability to sell certain by-products, lack of capacity to store certain by-products, extreme weather or natural disasters, social or political unrest or any major public health crisis, any of which may not be recognized as a force majeure event, may significantly impact our ability to export and sell our products, particularly in Indonesia even if alternative refineries or smelters outside of Indonesia are available, and could adversely impact our costs, revenues and results of operations or require us to revise our operating plans, including curtailing or modifying our mining and milling operations. As discussed above and in Note 10, smelting operations in Indonesia were temporarily suspended during fourth-quarter 2025 as a result of limited copper concentrate availability following the September 2025 mud rush incident. We maintain insurance at amounts we believe to be reasonable to cover some of these risks and hazards; however, our insurance may not sufficiently cover losses from certain of these risks and hazards. There can be no assurance that such insurance will continue to be maintained or available at economically feasible premiums, that the proceeds of such insurance will be paid in a timely manner or that we will be adequately compensated for losses actually incurred, if at all. We may elect not to purchase insurance for certain risks because of the high premium costs associated with insuring such risk or for various other reasons. For example, we do not have coverage for certain environmental losses, including the legal liabilities associated with these risks. The lack of, or insufficiency of, insurance coverage could adversely affect our cash flows and overall profitability.