Having crossed $5 per pound in May, the price of copper has declined to around $4.12 per pound, and that fall has taken the share price of copper miner Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) with it -- it's down almost 18% since copper crossed $5 per pound. That said, these kinds of dips often create buying opportunities in commodity stocks, which is the case now. Here are three reasons why.

The initiative involves recovering copper from existing stockpiles that have already been mined. As such, there's a major opportunity for Freeport-McMoRan to produce copper at a relatively low cost per pound using its leaching technology in development. For reference, its unit net cash cost of copper was $1.73 per pound in the second quarter, which compares with the point that "cost per pound for the leach initiatives are under $1 per pound incrementally" that CEO Kathleen Quirk discussed on the earnings call.

The leaching initiative is cost-effective and is developing ahead of schedule, and it is starting to be a significant part of Freeport's copper sales.

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Source Fool.com