Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm To The Stockholders and Board of Directors of Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc.: We have audited management’s assessment, included in the  accompanying Management’s Report on Internal Control Over  Financial Reporting, that Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold  Inc. and its subsidiaries maintained effective internal control  over financial reporting as of December 31, 2004, based on  criteria established in Internal Control-Integrated Framework  issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of  the Treadway Commission (COSO). Freeport-McMoRan Copper  & Gold Inc.’s management is responsible for maintaining  effective internal control over financial reporting and  for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control  over financial reporting. Our responsibility is to express  an opinion on management’s assessment and an opinion on  the effectiveness of the company’s internal control over  financial reporting based on our audit. We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards  of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United  States). Those standards require that we plan and perform  the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether  effective internal control over financial reporting was main- tained in all material respects. Our audit included obtaining  an understanding of internal control over financial reporting,  evaluating management’s assessment, testing and evaluating  the design and operating effectiveness of internal control,  and performing such other procedures as we considered  necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit  provides a reasonable basis for our opinion. A company’s internal control over financial reporting is  a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding  the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of  financial statements for external purposes in accordance  with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s  internal control over financial reporting includes those  policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance  of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly  reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the  company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions  are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial  statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting  principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the  company are being made only in accordance with authoriza- tions of management and directors of the company; and  (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or  timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or dispo- sition of the company’s assets that could have a material  effect on the financial statements. Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over  financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements.  Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future  periods are subject to the risk that controls may be inade- quate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of  compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.  In our opinion, management’s assessment that Freeport- McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. and its subsidiaries maintained  effective internal control over financial reporting as of  December 31, 2004, is fairly stated, in all material respects,  based on the COSO criteria. Also, in our opinion, Freeport- McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. and its subsidiaries maintained,  in all material respects, effective internal control over  financial reporting as of December 31, 2004, based on the  COSO criteria. We have also audited, in accordance with the standards of  the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United  States), the consolidated balance sheets of Freeport-McMoRan  Copper & Gold Inc. and its subsidiaries as of December 31,  2004 and 2003, and the related statements of income, cash  flows and stockholders’ equity for each of the three years  in the period ended December 31, 2004 and our report dated  March 9, 2005 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon. Ernst & Young LLP New Orleans, Louisiana March 9, 2005 2004 ANNUAL REPORT  | 49