Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc's third-quarter profit fell sharply,missing Wall Street estimates,due in part to a big drop in gold production at its vast Grasberg mine in Indonesia,the company said on Monday. Freeport trimmed its forecast for gold production this year but said it expects a big jump in both gold and copper output next year,when it will be mining higher-grade ores at Grasberg. Gold output from the mine,on the Indonesian island of Papua,was hurt as the company worked through a layer of lower-grade ores,which yield less gold. The mine was also hit by a strike late last year and only recently returned to normal production. (Freeport) did fine,but the key is lower ore grades at Grasberg,said analyst Charles Bradford of Bradford Research in New York. They are a mining company and ore grades vary,which means the output varies. But they had warned about that. Freeport said third-quarter consolidated gold sales from its mines fell by more than half,to 202,000 ounces from 409,000 ounces a year earlier. Copper output was down slightly,to 922 million pounds from 947 million pounds. As a result,quarterly revenue dropped 15 percent to $4.4 billion,even as copper and gold prices rose from the 2011 quarter. Spot gold ended the third quarter at $1,770 per ounce,up 9 percent from a year earlier. Copper was up 16 percent to $8,205 per tonne,according to Thomson Reuters data. Freeport shares fell 1.9 percent to $40.40 in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Freeport's net earnings were $824 million,or 86 cents per share,down from $1.1 billion,or $1.10 per share,a year earlier,the Phoenix-based company said. Excluding credits for adjustments to deferred income taxes in Peru and some environmental obligations and related litigation,earnings were 68 cents per share. On that basis,analysts' average forecast was 73 cents,according to Thomson Reuters I The company maintained its 2012 estimate for copper sales of 3.6 billion pounds,but it lowered the gold sales estimate to 1.0 million ounces from 1.1 million ounces. Next year,it expects consolidated sales of 4.3 billion pounds of copper,1.4 million ounces of gold and 90 million pounds of molybdenum. In the 2012 fourth quarter,it expects consolidated sales of 930 million pounds of copper,255,000 ounces of gold and 20 million pounds of molybdenum.
