The Scoop

In early 2025, the space was little more than a sea of empty office cubicles. The Integrated Remote Operations Center was just an idea – a vision of what Freeport’s future might be. Today, it’s home to a forward-thinking team reinventing mining.

The IROC is a state-of-the-art control center, where innovation, technology and operational excellence come together to drive smarter, faster decisions.

This past summer, we created the IROC as the home for cross-functional teams of technicians, engineers and analysts who work together in real time to optimize production, monitor assets and anticipate issues before they occur. This centralized model enables us to scale best practices across sites, reduce variability and elevate decision-making through shared data and expertise.

Temporarily housed at Freeport’s Zone in east Phoenix, the IROC team is scheduled to move into a larger, purpose-built space in a building on the north end of the complex in 2026. The new facility is designed as a modern, high-performance workspace that supports remote operations and fosters collaboration across the teams. From fragmentation design to geomechanical and health asset monitoring, IROC empowers specialists to deliver results from a centralized hub, accelerating our ability to learn, respond, adapt and lead.

We have a rare opportunity to help drive a transformational shift that will shape the future of mining. Since the project launched, dozens of employees from our North America sites have joined the IROC team, many relocating their families and stepping away from established work routines to be part of something bigger: a bold effort to redefine how we work and what’s possible.

While we’re still in the early days, we already are seeing promising results.

Bringing the Remote Asset Monitoring Process (RAMP) team together in one location has created a space where years of experience and knowledge are shared across desks – all aimed at equipping decision-makers with the best possible information. This collaboration ensures we can quickly address site needs while leveraging additional expertise to deliver faster, more effective solutions. In short, bringing so much knowledge together in the same room creates tremendous power.

IROC is a tangible expression of our commitment to operational excellence; connecting people, technology and process to make our operations safer, smarter and better aligned with the future of mining.

In closing, I want to thank and acknowledge everyone who has helped make IROC a reality. For every team member who made the physical move here, there were many more behind the scenes who played a critical role – from technicians supporting training, to leaders coordinating workloads and schedules, to teams stepping up to cover rotating shifts. Your efforts reflect the best of Freeport’s spirit of collaboration, which continues to inspire and impress me every day.

This truly has been a team effort, and it’s making us better every day.