Freeport sees charges falling long term

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The charges paid by miners to smelters to turn copper concentrate into metal will fall in the long term, reversing a recent upward trend, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.'s (FCX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) CEO said on Tuesday.

Treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) have been around $95 a metric ton and 9.5 cents a lb this year, up from some $83 a metric ton and 8.5 cents a lb in 2005.

A lack of smelting capacity or a dearth of concentrate on the market affects the levels that are set for these fees.

"In the long run there are set to be adequate smelters in the industry and that will bring downward pressure on TC/RCs," Richard Adkerson, Freeport's CEO, told the Reuters Global Mining and Steel Summit in New York.

He said smelters were being built in Asia and elsewhere and these would alter the dynamics of the market with raw materials supply and demand coming more into balance.

The demand for refined copper metal is particularly acute in Asia, where China is one of the world's largest consumers of the metal.

New Orleans-based Freeport, which owns the massive Grasberg copper/gold mine in Indonesia, also has two smelters, one in Spain and another in Indonesia.

Copper smelters derive a large part of their revenue from the fees that they receive for processing concentrate into metal.