Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.'s $26.4 billion purchase of Phelps Dodge Corp. is turning out better than expected. The value of the Phoenix-based company, now the largest publicly traded copper producer, is surging. That's because demand may be off slightly (due to reduced sales to the construction industry).

CEO Richard C. Adkerson tells the Associated Press that Freeport managers focus their attention on one primary asset, the Grasberg mine in Papua, Indonesia, which is one of the world's largest sources of precious metals. Meanwhile, Phelps Dodge managers coordinate numerous copper operations around the world.

Adkerson still is thinking about selling off some of the company's assets. "We bought Phelps Dodge to be a major copper producer, so the major copper producing mines are certainly assets that we would not be likely to sell," he says. That leaves businesses such as Phelps Dodge's wire and cable company in Coral Gables, Fla., and the Henderson mine in Colorado that produces molybdenum, a metal used in high-strength steels and other alloys. "There are several things that we might do," he tells the Associated Press.