Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. Completes Agreements For Acquisition Term Loan & New Revolving Credit Facility

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE: FCX) announced today the completion of agreements with two bank syndicates providing committed financing for a $4 billion bank Term Loan and a new $3 billion Revolving Credit Facility in connection with FCX’s proposed acquisitions of Plains Exploration & Production Company (NYSE: PXP) and McMoRan Exploration Co. (NYSE: MMR).

The Term Loan will be drawn at the closing of the acquisitions and may be used to fund the cash portion of the acquisitions, refinancings of certain debt outstanding at PXP and MMR or for general corporate purposes. The Term Loan will mature five years from the date of the first borrowing and will bear interest determined by reference to FCX’s credit ratings (currently LIBOR + 1.50%).

In connection with the completion of the Term Loan, lender commitments under FCX’s acquisition bridge facilities have been reduced from $9.5 billion to $5.5 billion.

In addition, FCX has entered into agreements for a new five-year $3 billion Revolving Credit Facility, which will replace FCX’s existing $1.5 billion revolving credit facility on completion of the PXP transaction.

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, BNP Paribas Securities Corp., Citigroup Global Markets Inc., HSBC Securities (USA) Inc., Mizuho Corporate Bank, Ltd., Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, The Bank of Nova Scotia, and The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. were joint lead arrangers and joint bookrunners for the Term Loan and/or the Revolving Credit Facility.

The proposed acquisitions are expected to close in second quarter 2013.

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 has a dynamic portfolio of operating, expansion and growth projects in the copper industry and is the world’s largest producer of molybdenum.

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