By Mary Alice Murphy
Freeport McMoran Copper and Gold In. Chino Mine has announced that beginning in January, the company will begin at 50 percent capacity, with about 60 percent of the current workforce to be employed.
Mid-January is the target date, but some workers will actually return in mid-November to prepare for staggered start dates through early next year.
The company acknowledged how difficult the uncertain conditions of the past months and much of this year have been for working and furloughed employees, as well as the community, but the company hasn't been idle.
Freeport McMoran has worked on developing the plans to secure the long-term secure future for the property.
The company and Western New Mexico University collaborated to provide resources to the furloughed miners. During a drive-through expo held Sept. 20, 2020, WNMU faculty and staff talked to dozens of students about the university's programs. They also helped students apply for Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act tuition assistance and Trade Adjustment Assistance funding for those enrolling in classes. Many chose welding, electrical technology and law enforcement programs. Some were interested in graduate degrees, and some had already enrolled in courses, according to a WNMU news release about the event.
Copper is priced by the metric ton. Its low for 2020 occurred on March 23, when it hit $4774.20, a bit above its 52-week low of $4,617. Today, Oct. 26, 2020, in a down market, it, as of this writing, has reached $6,879.50 less than $100 below its 52-week high of $6,954.50.
You may be more familiar with the stock index price of Freeport McMoran. Today, in a very down market, the price per share is $17.28, drastically up from its 52-week low of $4.82 and not far off its 52-week high of $18.68.
The refined copper has many everyday uses, including in household electrical wiring and in some of the pots and pans that you cook with. If you happen to play a saxophone, copper is in your musical instrument.
You are reading this article on a computer or cellphone. Guess what? Copper is used in printed circuit boards, micro-chips and semi-conductors. And when you turn on your microwave to warm up that yummy left-over piece of pizza, the microwave oven uses magnetrons made out of copper.
Telecommunications reply on copper. The modems and routers that carry digital information remain dependent on copper.
Renewable energy benefits from copper's conductive properties. Photovoltaic cells and wind turbines require copper. A single wind turbine can contain up to 1 metric ton of the metal.
Planes, trains, automobiles and boats rely on the electric and thermal properties of copper.
Without copper and its mining, our lives as we know them today would not exist. Let's welcome those miners back to their jobs blasting out the ore that we depend on every day.