Freeport-McMoRan announces appointment of Joshua F. Olmsted as President and Chief Operating Officer – Americas

Contributed Photo: Josh Olmsted has been named Freeport McMoRan President and Chief Operating Officer – Americas.

Contributed Article/Courtesy Freeport-McMoRan

PHOENIX – Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE: FCX) announced today the appointment of Joshua F. “Josh” Olmsted as President and Chief Operating Officer – Americas upon the retirement of Harry M. “Red” Conger, IV (64).

Following a successful 33-year career with Freeport-McMoRan, Red Conger has elected to retire effective Sept. 1.

Josh Olmsted (49) currently serves as Senior Vice President – Americas. He has 28 years of experience in the Freeport-McMoRan organization, including senior leadership roles at several operating sites in the U.S. and South America. Over the last four years, he has assumed increasing leadership responsibilities within the Company’s Americas organization and has been highly effective in driving critical operational, technology, and transformational initiatives currently in progress.

Josh is a mining engineering graduate of Colorado School of Mines. In an interview seen here, Olmsted advised that safety would be his main concern moving forward and acknowledged Conger for his time at the company.

“Safety is being number one,” Olmstead said. “That’s gotta be the number one thing we work on day in and day out.”

“I’d really like to recognize Red Conger and all the impact he’s had on this organization in his time here, specifically his focus on developing people and getting the organization ready for this exact moment. The team that we have and that he’s developed over the years is super capable and I know that the things that we’ve got in place today are going to do nothing but get us better. I’ve got some big shoes to fill but I really look forward to the opportunity and I’m grateful that I have it.”

Olmsted previously spent a number of years at the Morenci Operations after taking over the helm in 2012 and his son, John Olmsted, was a standout basketball player for Morenci. John is now a sophomore at ASU and is on the university’s basketball team.

Richard C. Adkerson, President and Chief Executive Officer, said: “Red has made significant contributions to the Freeport organization and to the mining industry throughout his 43-year career in mining. He is a champion for our industry and has been instrumental in building our Americas business and developing exceptional operational and technical talent within Freeport-McMoRan. We appreciate his many contributions and wish him well in the future.”

Adkerson continued: “Josh has earned the respect and confidence of the organization and is a seasoned and accomplished operational leader. He has exceptional technical acumen in a broad range of mining and development activities, a relentless commitment to safety, a strong drive and value focus, and proven abilities to lead, challenge, and motivate our teams. I am confident that Josh will do an outstanding job in leading this exceptional operating team.”

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 one of the world’s largest publicly traded copper producers.

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 America and South America, including the large-scale Morenci minerals district in Arizona and the Cerro Verde operation in Peru.