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Category: Front Page News Front Page News
Published: 27 December 2019 27 December 2019

Photos and article by Mary Alice Murphy

Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc., on Dec. 4, 2019, through its Community Investment Fund, awarded 12 grants totaling $450,000 to several groups for their projects.

Laura Phelps, strategic community development manager, emceed the event. She introduced Chad Fretz, Chino Mine general manager.

"We are making positive progress on three major initiatives," Fretz said. "The Grasberg Mine in Indonesia is going underground, and production will pick up in 2021. Our Lone Star project in Arizona has enough product for another 20 years. Our first copper will be produced in late 2020. We expect to produce 2 million to 3 million pounds of copper a year. We are doing innovation-driven production improvements. The margin of expansion will allow an upgrade at Bagdad in Arizona. We will increase throughput of the concentrator to 120,000 tons a day."

Erich Bower, Tyrone Mine general manager, said: "I'm passionate about our economic impact on the area. The No. 1 job we think about every day is keeping our employees employed. We create, in direct and indirect economic impact, about $177 million total a year. For New Mexico, the total impact is $409.6 million. We want to get into swing to be a producer in the third quartile. We have various phases of implementation to make our operations better. The Freeport culture change will make us more agile. It's people over process. Agile will get us from what's good enough today to what we should be doing, so I have a line of sight to the third quartile. We want to be a strong participant in the community."

Fretz said the Chino mill innovation team, "some days is racing through up to 15,000 tons a day. Chino needs more production to reduce costs to get to the third quartile. We are currently in the fourth quartile because our production is more expensive. The flow through is 18,000 gallons a minute since Chino began. Since this innovative fellow challenged us, we are running 20,000 gallons a minute."

Freeport-McMoRan was part of the community outreach in participating in the legislative tour of the Interim Legislative Water and Natural Resources Committee tour in October.

"We need to make it clear that renewables are not possible without copper," Fretz said. "We need three to four times more copper to build wind turbines and for electric vehicles."

Bower said a contractor, Tim Rivers, was killed on March 6, due to a mechanical failure. "We have placed a permanent plaque in his honor, so no one else learns a lesson. It was a hard one."

"Tyrone runs one shovel," Bower continued. "We've recently done a complete rebuild of the shovel. For 30 years, people have been saying that the Tyrone mine will run out of ore, and the end of the mine will come in three or four years. We're still going. The side-slope leach stockpiles are watched from the top by the great technology of drones. The piles are up by 4 million pounds this year. We are getting a lot of copper out of those slopes. Another Tyrone innovation is the cathode stacker. Others have said it's the best in the world, and it's mostly done by automated robots. Tyrone is working on pushbacks beyond 2022. Our vision 2020 and beyond is to squeeze more copper out of Tyrone at the current price. If the price goes up, we have more opportunities."

Phelps said Freeport-McMoRan had handed out mini-grants, which she said averaged about $500 each. The CIF fund has given out $100,000 in 2019 for STEM grants up to $5,000. "Over the past 28 years, the Community Investment Fund has given out $3.8 million. El Refugio, the domestic violence shelter has received $100,000 in 28 years. This is social investing."

A brunch for the attendees was catered by Diane's Restaurant.

Phelps said the number of employees at Tyrone is about 360 and 1100ish at Chino.

First up after the brunch were employee awards. The first handed out by Bower was to J.D. Rogers, who when he took over as mine supervisory took on a special responsibility. "He has toured 150 fifth-graders through the Tyrone Mine. He does an amazing job of connecting the kids to mining operations."

Rogers received a copper splash and a model school bus. He said it's an easy job, because he has stickers to hand out for certain things.

Fretz recognized "someone who helps me a lot. If there are tours at Chino, she plans them, and she orders the meals and never drops the ball." He presented Sandy Martin with a copper splash.

Next came the Community Partner Awards.

"These are going to a couple of folks who are critical and key to the community," Bower said. "They are very supportive of our business, and they get things done."

He presented plaques to Silver City Town Manager Alex Brown and Grant County Manager Charlene Webb.

County Commission Chairman Chris Ponce thanked Fretz and Bower for being involved in the community. "I've been fortunate to work with Sandy. She is awesome, and I know J.D. also does a great job. I have worked with Alex, who has showed me a lot. He supports the community. And our county manager has a tough job. She has five commissioners going off in five different directions. She is a great resource and love Grant County. She goes above and beyond, not only for the commissioners, but for the departments, too, not to mention the community. Her doors are always open. We as commissioners can just walk in. We thank you, Charlene, for everything you do."

Silver City Mayor Ken Ladner congratulation Brown. "I can think of no one more deserving of this award. He is the best city manager in the state. He has a tremendous amount of specialties. He keeps the finances in order. Several years ago, we were negotiating to give some of our water rights to Hurley. We were looking at an agreement, but Alex said: 'Those aren't just residents in Hurley, Bayard and Santa Clara. They are our cousins.' His attitude spills over into everything."

Phelps introduced Angie Harmon, Freeport regional manager of community development for North America.

"We support investments in the community," Harmon said. "It is always a learning experience. The biggest thing we see if we have to partner with communities to see change. How does the Freeport Foundation support the efforts? We do it through the Community Investment Fund. We have five other funds in North American managed by the community, which turns over a pot of funds to recipients. It's a lot of work for the volunteer groups who go through the applications and score them to determine what will have the greatest impact on the community."

Big Brothers, Big Sisters regional director since April, Beth Hoffman received $25,000. "We do one-to-one mentoring with adult Bigs to Littles. We had 52 youths in 2019 on the list. We made 20 matches. Each match is a one-year contract but can be extended. We have a substantial waiting list. This year we started a partnership with Silver High School, where a high school student can be matched with an elementary school student. We did a Color Run to raise funds. Western New Mexico University made it a success. 2020, we will do more of the same, focusing on High School Bigs. We are also working in Cliff."

Cobre Consolidated Schools received $11,000. Associate Superintendent José Carrillo said it is for a partnership with STEAMing Ahead for success with the drone program."We are doing it still with the Extended School."

Felicia Abeyta of STEAMing Ahead said the program is building capacity with educators to teach kids. "We also have simulators at Snell Middle School and Cobre High School."

The Community Partnership received $25,000. Terry Anderson, the founder of the group, said: "Since 2007, the partnership has been working on early education. This is our sixth year for the Grant County Community Early Education Shared Services network, Links, to be up and running. The Freeport Community Investment Fund has helped us on our journey. We support each other as partners, including Amplified Therapy and New Beginnings. We are building trust and relationships. We share trainings; we have a Relief Squad of substitutes; and a website to strengthen all the childcare centers. We promote all of them. We are no longer working in silos. We are strengthening through recruitment and retention. It's economic development to keep the centers open in the community, so the children's parents can work."

The Grant County Stepping Up Program received $20,000. "It's a national program, helping to reduce the numbers in our jails," County Manager Webb said. "We have inmates that have mental health or drug use issues. Seventy-five percent of inmates are treated for mental health or drug issues. We try to intercept them somewhere in the judicial process and send them in the right direction. It's a wrap-around model of care. We have more than 35 partners now, including Hidalgo Medical Services, Tu Casa and CareLinks, the town of Silver City, the Grant County Sheriff's Office, VitalCore, and Gila Regional Medical Center. The County Commission is tasked by the state to take care of inmates. If we can keep them productive, it's better for all of us. We were able to do a pilot program with New Mexico to tackle the issues with the program statewide."

The Foundry, a makerspace in Silver City, received $15,000. Stephen Lindsey said: "We will start having more community investment. Our community partnerships are coming together as a central resource and a blend of the arts." We are an independent makerspace. We offer workshops, which allow people to learn new skills. We bring in the ones with the skills to teach. We are planning more workshops."

An award of $18,000 to New Mexico State University Grant County Extension Service will provide hospitality and tourism training for residents. Jean Hertzman of NMSU is leading the effort, and Extension Agent Judy O'Loughlin is taking care of the trainings and testing locally.

Hertzman said the hospitality and tourism industry has an $8 billion impact on New Mexico, with Silver City having a lot to offer. "The training is divided into two programs—guest service training and food safety certification."

The New Mexico Lions Crane Reading Program labs in the Cobre Schools received $55,000. George Mulholland, Joyce Barela and Rachel Boren received the award. Barela reported 180 students are in the program and "we will add another 30 at Central Elementary." Boren said the evaluations of the program have shown half a grade improvement in just a few months. Mulholland said they were quizzed on the sustainability of the program. "We have partners who help us out."

The Silver City MainStreet Plaza project received $63,000 to continue revitalizing downtown Silver City. "Your initial funding brought restrooms to the site. We also got New Mexico MainStreet Program funding and support from Silver City. The ribbon cutting in the spring will help activate the Big Ditch Park and tie it into the Kelly Street project. Thanks for the initial funding and this additional funding, Freeport McMoRan."

Silver Consolidated Schools received $135,000 for career and technology training. Associate Superintendent Curtis Clough said the funding makes space in La Plata Middle School for the training. "Kevin Cook got us back into a relationship with Freeport. This program will use STEAM-related guidance. We have held community forums to make sure we will have trained the workforce that area businesses need. We have actively engaged students in the effort. This is phase 1 of a three-phase program. From January 21-23, we will introduce the teachers and kids to the new lab. It will include multi-media, including radio. We look forward to taking fourth, seventh and 10th-graders to the mines."

The village of Santa Clara received $22,000 to enhance the Splash Pad and Viola Stone Park. Mayor Richard Bauch thanked Freeport. "We couldn't have done it without Freeport's help. The Splash Pad and Viola Stone Park will continue to be a draw. We use the park for movies. And we will put in exercise equipment at the Senior Community Center. Our Clerk Sheila Hudman, like Alex and Charlene, it's amazing what they do."

Virus Theater received $10,000. Maria Casler and Kristen Warnack accepted the grant. Casler said three groups work in the theater shows. "We drew about 400 attendees to one of our plays and then another show brought in about 200. We got great reviews from the families. We partner with the Silver City Recreation Center to participate in workshops. We saw the kids gain self-confidence. It's exciting to see kids blossom and get a sense of teamwork."

Western New Mexico University received $50,000 for promoting family math learning nights at schools. Tanya Rivers, Scott Smith and Manuel Bustamante accepted the award. Bustamante said: "We have a bag of tools, and a book of games. Our goal is to increase access to science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics." Smith said the university is working with 13 schools. "We've had three events so far with another one next week. Three hundred 91 families have participated, with a total of 809 people." Rivers said: "We have five more nights planned, and we will host two events at Western. We believe math is the gateway to opportunities in STEAM programs."

Phelps said Chino and Tyrone mines had a competition for what percentage of employees they could get to donate to United Way. "They tied at 27 percent each. We provided $300,000 in match money in Grant County. We support about 10 organizations in the county. We have exciting things in the pipeline, and we are looking forward to 2020."

The United Way Southwest New Mexico Chief Executive Officer Amanda Morales highlighted groups they support including Imagination Library, Girl Scouts of the Desert Southwest, and El Refugio Inc.

"You are the people effecting change in Grant County," Phelps concluded.