Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. Announces $0.50 per Share Supplemental Common Stock Dividend

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE:FCX) announcedtoday that its Board of Directors has authorized a supplemental commonstock dividend of $0.50 per share to be paid on March 31, 2006 toshareholders of record as of March 15, 2006. The supplemental dividendto be paid in March represents an addition to FCX's regular quarterlycommon stock dividend of $0.3125 per share (equivalent to $1.25 pershare per annum). Since the fourth quarter of 2004, FCX's Board hasauthorized five supplemental dividends totaling $2.25 per share,including $0.25 per share in 2004 and $1.50 per share in 2005. Thepotential payment of any future supplemental dividends will bedetermined by FCX's Board of Directors and will be dependent upon manyfactors, including FCX's cash flows and financial position, copper andgold prices and general economic and market conditions. Based onapproximately 187 million current shares outstanding, the supplementaldividend payment will approximate $94 million.

Richard C. Adkerson, President and Chief Executive Officer of FCX,said, "This supplemental dividend reflects our established financialpolicy of providing additional cash returns to shareholders fromavailable cash flows. It reflects our strong performance in 2005 and acontinuation of positive copper and gold markets at the outset of2006. Our record 2005 operating and financial results enabled us toreduce debt by $0.7 billion, fund $0.5 billion in common stockdividends and share purchases and end the year with over $750 millionin cash. The outlook for our business is positive and a continuationof strong copper and gold prices would enable our Board to consideradditional cash returns to our shareholders in the future."

FCX explores for, develops, mines and processes ore containingcopper, gold and silver in Indonesia, and smelts and refines copperconcentrates in Spain and Indonesia. Additional information on FCX isavailable on our web site, www.fcx.com.

Cautionary Statement. This press release contains forward-lookingstatements in which we discuss factors we believe may affect ourperformance in the future. Forward-looking statements are allstatements other than historical facts, such as statements regardingdividend payments and purchases of the Company's common stock. Thedeclaration and payment of dividends is at the discretion of theCompany's Board of Directors and will depend on the Company's cashflows and financial position, copper and gold prices and generaleconomic and market conditions. Additionally, important factors thatmight cause future results to differ from these projections includeindustry risks, commodity prices, Indonesian political risks, weatherrelated and currency translation risks and other factors described inFCX's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.