Freeport-McMoRan's Q2 profit beats expectations, helped by rising copper prices

In the U.S., Quirk said Freeport has not heard from the Trump administration yet about a potential tariff on refined copper, which had been expected by late June.

Any tariff on copper concentrate or other products that Freeport sells would boost the company's earnings. Copper inventories have been moving to U.S. warehouses in anticipation of a decision.

"Everyone's watching the situation closely," Quirk said.

For the quarter ended June 30, Freeport reported net income of $984 million, or 68 cents per share, compared to $772 million, or 53 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.

Excluding the Grasberg costs and other one-time items, Freeport earned 74 cents per share. By that measure, analysts expected earnings of 59 cents per share, according to IBES data from LSEG.