Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold is prepared to act on acquisition opportunities that arise, but see "very limited" prospects for corporate activity, CEO Richard Adkerson said on Monday.
The company is focused on spending its growing cash flow on capital projects, and will look at reducing debt opportunistically, he said in a presentation at the BMO Metals & Mining Conference under way this week in Florida.
"And then beyond that we look at shareholder returns," he said.
As far as acquisitions are concerned, the emphasis is on both size and asset quality, Adkerson said.
"We are not likely to do a small transaction," he said. "If an opportunity comes to us, it will have to be a big opportunity.
"Smaller companies may have lots of M&A opportunities, but for a company our size, the opportunities are limited."
Freeport said last month it could spend between $8-billion and $10-billion over the next five years if all the projects it is considering were approved.
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Shares in the company edged up 1% on Monday, to $52,95 apiece by 16:00 in Toronto.
There has been increasing corporate activity in the copper sector, most recently with Equinox Minerals' announcement that it will make a hostile offer for Lundin Mining.
Lundin already agreed last month to merge with fellow Canadian Inmet Mining.
Freeport-McMoRan is the second-biggest copper producer after Chile's Codelco, and the biggest publicly traded copper miner. It is also a top molybdenum producer and ranked ninth in terms of gold production in 2010, according to estimates from GFMS.
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