Freeport-McMoRan expects lower consolidated sales for copper, gold in third quarter

Freeport-McMoRan said on Wednesday it was expecting consolidated sales to be lower by about 4% for copper and nearly 6% for gold in the third quarter, compared with its prior forecast, sending the miner's shares down 9% in premarket trading.

Earlier this month, the company had temporarily halted mining in Indonesia's Grasberg mine after a large flow of wet material blocked access to parts of its underground mine, restricting evacuation routes for seven workers.

Freeport last week located two team members who had been fatally injured in the incident.

The company operates Grasberg, one of the world's largest gold and copper mines, and had been building a smelter in Indonesia. The smelter was damaged by a fire last year and was shut down.

In July, it had forecasted a consolidated sales of 1 billion pounds of copper and 350 thousand ounces of gold for the third quarter.