The company's 2024 Annual Report on Sustainability is now available online. In the following letter to stakeholders, Kathleen Quirk, President and Chief Executive Officer, introduces the report, which highlights the company’s commitment to “Powering Progress.”
Dear Stakeholders,
I am pleased to share our 2024 Annual Report on Sustainability which highlights progress for our value-driven sustainability strategy — Accelerate the Future, Responsibly — supporting our business strategy of being Foremost in Copper and informing our decisions and our core values.
The health, safety and well-being of our workforce remains our top priority. I commend the tireless efforts of our operations teams to set clear expectations, spend dedicated time in the field, enhance accountability and drive a safety-first culture. In 2024, we achieved our best total recordable incident rate (TRIR) in more than a decade. Despite our progress, we mourned the deaths of two logistics contractors delivering materials in North America and continued to experience a significant number of high-risk events. In October, we held a global safety stand-down to reinforce our safety commitment. Across our operations, we facilitated meaningful conversations about safety performance, emphasized hazard recognition and reminded our employees and contractors of their obligation to stop work if safety concerns are identified.
Technology and innovation continue to play an increasingly pivotal role in our operations. The implementation of new and innovative technologies and practices, such as our leaching initiatives and the advancement of autonomous haulage aim to increase copper production while improving operational efficiency, safety and environmental performance.
Our Bagdad team is making substantial progress in converting our haul truck fleet to operate autonomously by year-end 2025. With several trucks already operating, our team has been learning and adapting to this new technology. Although commercially viable electrification of haul trucks is still years in the future, in early 2025, Sierrita received one of Caterpillar’s prototype battery-electric haul trucks to trial at our site. We are eager to test its capabilities and support the further advancement of new technologies.
We recognize the need to balance our environmental impacts with our mission to deliver the copper and metals necessary for modern life and the global economy. In 2024, we added new energy sources in the Americas and progressed PTFI’s natural gas-fired power plant at Grasberg. Reliable water supplies are integral to our mining operations, and innovation and technological advancement will play a key role in enhancing our water stewardship in the future. To further this, our dedicated Tailings Innovation Group is exploring opportunities to improve tailings management and reduce water consumption at our tailings facilities.
As we embrace this exciting period of innovation and advancement, our commitment to sustainability and operational excellence remains unwavering. We are driven by our goal to responsibly meet current and increasing demand for the metals we produce and will continue to innovate and improve as we are “Powering Progress.”