mining engineer

metallurgist

electrician

mechanic

repair technician

Freeport-McMoRan

Work day - No different than any other work day. The staff count is limited, the hiring processes is extremely slow. So places are understaffed and over worked. Coworkers tend to surf the internet all day, shopping for houses, cars, texting. Those same workers are forced to work late because the did not work all day. Those employees are viewed by management as hard workers because they are at work all day.

I learned more from asking questions and being engaged than I ever did through trainings or team leaders. The people on the ground doing the actual work are the people you want to learn from.

Managers will ask "why do you leave on time all the time?" I let them know my work is done and I want to be with family. Management will tell you to stay late to create a perception of working hard. The people that have family at the upper levels always pull strings to get their family moved up through the company regardless of their experience. If you look at the people who move up through the ranks quickly, there is a 75% chance they have family working at corporate. They expect you to follow a very specific chain of command and question no one.

Workplace culture is shut up and do you job. They are not looking for innovative thinkers. They want click monkeys, yes sir/no sir.

The hardest part of the job is dealing with the people and the lack luster management. I had a manager tell a room full of people "I do not need to know what you do in order to manage you." I would be in the field busting my hump while they sit in the office ordering out food and having catered lunches every day of the week and leaving early to play golf. And their "maternity leave" was a total scam. They forced you to use ALL of your PTO for the entire year, THEN gave you only 3 weeks of leave. So if you had a baby in the 1st quarter of the year, you had to work the last 3 quarters of the year with no vacation left.

The most enjoyable part of my job was the fact that my managers did not make an effort to know what work I was doing each day. I was able to take full control of projects and coordinate with operations to implement designs. If management failed to follow up on my work, I continued to work on things that needed to get done rather than what they felt needed to be done.

To sum up my short experience at Freeport (3-months), I felt there was no open culture, lack of training, and overworked. Scheduling is 7:30AM-5:30PM M-F one week and the next week is 7:30AM-5:30PM M-TH, which is 41 hours, but you’ll easily be exceeding 50+ for most weeks. The day-to-day was a never ending cycle of tracking and meeting extremely tight deadlines (oftentimes requiring to work during lunch and weekends towards closing times). Information needed from others puts a big delay in deadlines (this was often my case). It creates this cycle where if you miss or are late on a deadline, you’ll constantly be playing catch-up. Juggling meetings, answering emails, and Teams messages on a timely basis of a few minutes (the expectation) as well puts further strain mentally. Training is not well-documented and is very hands-on as the company refuses to allow Teams recordings due to privacy reasons (other companies I worked for never had issues with letting employees use the built-in Teams recording for training). The base salary is average, but the potential bonus puts your compensation close to 3/4 of 100k along with the health benefits and 401k at an instant vesting 5% match + additional 5% with 3 year tenure. Though most people won’t reach the 3-year tenure given the high turnover, especially in the accounting department.

This is not a good company to work for and I'm not nor have I ever been an employee. I have been here in the small town of morenci were one of the Freeport mines are located for 16 yrs. I have seen first hand the corruption and favoritism of this company. 
The pay is OK but keep in mind the condition of this little town. Plan to put a third of your pay check into your vehicle just to keep it reliable. As the road conditions are like driving on a wash borded dirt road.  Plan to put another third of your check into relacing property stolen from you, damage to your property, bail, and corrupt cops that are protected by the mine. As the juveniles here don't get into trouble for crimes. "Private Freeport property"  is their excuse. They do provide housing but you will be on a 2-4 year waiting list. Which will require a daily  90 mile round trip to and from Safford to get back and forth to work. Rent in morenci/Clifton is outrageous if your lucky enough to find a place. 
Don't speak up against Freeport or they will run you off one way or another. I know 29 people that this has happened too. If you plan to move up in the company DONT. You will not move up unless you are a favorite of the administration. 
I have seen people with the company 15 years not "qualify" to move up. 
I can go more into detail but I will be here for yrs. DONT WORK FOR THIS COMPANY IT IS NOT A GOOD COMPANY. Trust me when I say this. You will regret coming here and it will be real difficult to get back out. 

A typical day at work starts at home by getting up early to be prepared for work. If you live outside of Morenci, it's a long and boring commute back and forth. You drive a 2-story truck getting loaded and dumped at different locations for 12 hours straight.
 
I learned quite a bit out here about the truck's parts and functions and what isn't a good sign on how a truck will operate. They walk you through most of it but there was a lack of information of locations and changing channels on the radio. It's easy to pick up on and improvise for the most part.

As for management its more of a free for all for the supervisors out there. It's pretty disorganized but if your assertive you can get what you need out of them.

The workplace culture is loose and relaxed while also critical of things at the same time. It's a little difficult to explain. Most drivers keep to themselves.

The hardest part of the job is the demanding schedule and shift work. It's not a good place for those who struggle with time management. You can hardly get any sleep and in my case, I have to factor in how much time it will cost me to drive back and forth from home, what daily chores I can get done. There's hardly any work life balance. It's the worst when there are family emergencies.

The most enjoyable part of the job is being able to listen to what you want when you are driving as well as the paycheck and benefits. 

What I learned was to operate one of the largest pieces of equipment in the mining indust.lifing/training. A typical day started with the pre-shift of my shovel from the ground up the point sheeves, 3 rotations of the shovel to lube my circle gear, inspection of the face and high wall, move shovel into dig face, clean toe  and call for trucks, view ore bodies on CASE, load trucks, move shovel as needed. Management to me on the shove was time managment. Between loading trucks, moving the shovel from one ore body to another with out delaying the trucks and keeping production up was my main concern, besides Saftey that was the main concern, to do it all saftely.  After diong this for so long, your realize that your co worker's become your 2nd family.  So much time is spent with them that they become acustomed to how you work, and you know how they work, what to expect from them as you work in unison. The hardest part of my job was when i would load my trucks out, get off my shovel, run across my shovel pit, get on a rubber tire dozer clean my  pit park the rubber tire, run back to my shovel and load the next truck assigned that arrived with out delays.  The most enjoyable part was the respect of all my co-workers that was given after  loading 200+ trucks in a 12 hr shift, knowing that it was done saftely , and all my co -workers were going home .

each department in the mine has its own ecosystem, i will be reviewing Hydromat-Leaching.
expect the schedule will change at least 2-3 times a year, from straight 10s/1 weekend a month to 9/80 schedule to whatever the higher ups seem to feel like changing it to.

we get our job tasks once a month (used to be weekly) pulling drip, pipe/equipment, maintenance, and floaters (workers are placed where needed)

you can learn quite a bit being task trained on equipment but it can be a major hassle even trying to get any seat time

management is a joke, as said before with training, its a pain. another thing is when needing material to start/finish a job, ask for something and it can take a month or 2 to get parts. "im going to need your end of shift" well "im going to need the material i asked for about 4 weeks ago, ive been out"

the people are alright, feels like we're apart of a team

hardest part, finding the motivation to do a job if you either arnt going to get recognition or the inventory to do said job

most enjoyable, actually being able to complete a job. and the people hammering it out with you

good people and good opportunities
Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (FCX) is a leading international mining company with headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona. FCX operates large, long-lived, geographically diverse assets with significant proven and probable reserves of copper, gold and molybdenum. FCX is the world’s largest publicly traded copper producer. FCX’s portfolio of assets includes the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia, one of the world’s largest copper and gold deposits, and significant mining operations in North and South America, including the large-scale Morenci minerals district in Arizona and the Cerro Verde operation in Peru.

FCX has a strong commitment to safety performance, environmental management and the communities where it operates. FCX is a founding member of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM). Implementation of the ICMM Sustainable Development Framework across the company results in site-level sustainability programs that meet responsible sourcing objectives for the global marketplace.

Our stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “FCX”.

The company takes care of its workers very well. Pay is good starting out, plenty of opportunity for overtime, quarterly and yearly production/safety bonuses. Made 25% more than my base salary last year. Unfortunately a lot of the sites are going through major labor shortages and you often have to do the job of 2-3 people. Everyone has their theories of why people are leaving or not applying, some of it's true but unfortunately that makes most of them bitter and unpleasant to be around. Like any place, supervisors are a 50% chance of being competent. Those that would make good supes don't want the role because upper management/corporate are so disconnected from the realities of the dirty work and they don't want to have to suck up to them. Safety is high priority. Training could be better. Since most employees are stressed from overworking, there is little time or patience to teach things properly. Unfortunately, that can hinder your progression as well. There are lots of opportunities to move within the company and it's encouraged to take care of yourself through PTO or going to school.

Yep, this job is for you. If you're a hard worker they'll ask for more and more without any move up other than the yearly Cost Of Living raise. The benefits are top notch and the matching 401k deposits are great but don't go to management with any complaints because you'll just be talked down and told that's just the way it is. This company is stuck wishing that it's people would perform better, but never pay them better. I feel like the performance they demand is off-set by the management that the workers are under. The hours and stress is often made worse by being told that each worker can be replaced within a week by someone off the street. Often, we work may extra shifts with no incentive other than more pay. Advancement and training to move up is slow in coming and only if you have a very good relationship with your supervisor. Overall, its a really good company to use as a stepping stone to get experience in the industrial field. Otherwise, avoid if you're not willing to work long hard hours and many days in succession without time off.

Freeport McMoRan is one of the largest companies you've never heard of. It is the largest publicly traded copper producer in the world, and as with all other mining companies, moves at an incredible speed. If you are interested in being immersed in your work, an open pit mine is an unbeatable experience. As a technical employee, I handle multiple projects on a daily basis. I oversee purchasing, planning, design, contracting, and construction. It is extremely rewarding work, since my "end customers" are my coworkers in the mine. Most projects last around 6 months from start to end, so there is never a monotonous day. Expect to work very long hours and live in very remote places, the company does operate mines after all. You will get dirty occasionally, and that is one of my favorite parts of the job.

Safety is taken very seriously at Freeport McMoRan, and all employees are part of that culture. Mining is very different than it has been in the past. New employees will be asked to embrace this culture and help to improve it.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Mining engineer 2 salaries reported	$31.31 per hour
Metallurgist 2 salaries reported	$123,250 per year
Electrician 10 salaries reported	$38.23 per hour
Mechanic 11 salaries reported	$33.52 per hour
Repair technician 10 salaries reported	$27.45 per hour

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