One person is dead after an accident at a mine in southeastern Arizona, according to federal mine safety officials.
The incident occurred about 9:10 a.m. July 6, during surface copper mining operations at Freeport-McMoRan’s facility in Morenci, according to a fatality notification from the Mine Safety and Health Administration. The federal agency classified the death as a “powered haulage” fatality.
Morenci is about 176 miles northeast of Tucson, less than an hour from the Arizona-New Mexico border in Greenlee County. Mining operations there date back to the late 1800s.
Linda Hayes, vice president of communications for Freeport-McMoRan, confirmed the death in a statement.
Freeport-McMoRan said the employee was fatally injured in a haul truck accident.
A haul truck is a giant mining dump truck designed to carry large loads of rock and ore through an open-pit mine, like the one in Morenci.
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Neither Freeport-McMoRan nor federal officials have publicly identified the worker who died.
It remained unclear what exactly led up to the death or what the role of the worker was. Hayes said local authorities responded, while federal safety investigators and officials with the Arizona State Mine Inspector have been on site. The incident remains under investigation.
Have there been previous fatalities at Morenci?
The July 2026 death marked the third reported death tied to Freeport-McMoRan's Morenci operation since 2021, according to records from the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
In January 2022, Monroe Caston Jr., 56, a concrete mixer driver for contractor Tri County Materials, died after the truck he was driving lost control while descending the Northwest Ramp at Morenci, overturned and slid into a berm, according to the federal agency's fatality report.
A 24-year-old mixer driver in training who was in the truck was seriously injured.
The federal agency said the contractor failed to maintain the truck’s brakes and ensure the men wore seat belts.
In September 2021, Cleveland Sloan, 33, a contract welder with PVB Fabrications, died after entering a 30-inch pipe at the Morenci operation.
Federal safety investigators said in their report that Sloan died of asphyxiation caused by argon gas used in the welding process.
Sloan died from exposure to argon gas and found the contractor lacked adequate confined-space safety procedures, the agency said.
What is Freeport-McMoRan? Where does it have mines?
As of 2025, Freeport-McMoRan employed nearly 29,000 people, including more than 13,800 in the United States, according to company data.
Freeport-McMoRan is headquartered in Phoenix and employed 10,800 Arizonans in 2025, making it the 13th-largest employer in the state, according to The Arizona Republic's annual list of the largest employers in the state.
Freeport-McMoRan reported $6.23 billion in revenue during the first three months of 2026, according to its April earnings report.
The company has mines in the United States, South America and Indonesia, but its U.S. operations are concentrated in Arizona.
Five of the nine Freeport-McMoRan operations in the United States are based in Arizona.
It has copper mining operations in Miami and Safford, along with dual copper and molybdenum mines in Bagdad, Morenci and in the Sierrita Mountains in Green Valley, according to company information.
The Morenci project spans about 68,250 acres of mining claims, private land and permitted property, according to a 2016 Arizona Geological Survey report.
The company's other four U.S. mines are split between New Mexico and Colorado.
