HOUSTON, March 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. must improve its

mine permitting process if it hopes to boost domestic supplies

of critical minerals to power the clean energy transition, the

CEO of copper giant Freeport-McMoRan ( FCX ) said on Monday.

"The U.S. government needs to stop giving lip service to

permitting," Richard Adkerson told Reuters on the sidelines of

the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston.

"The question is, given our political system that we have

today and the dysfunctionality of it, how do you go from getting

a project verbally accepted to getting actions done?"

Earlier, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told the

conference that she supported efforts in the U.S. Congress to

reform the country's mining laws, some of which were first

approved in the 19th Century.

Adkerson sat next to Granholm at the conference's Monday

lunch and said he had a productive conversation with the

secretary about permitting reform.

Adkerson, who plans to step down as CEO this year after more

than 20 years in his role, said he was asking Washington for

more clarity on how permits are approved or rejected, not an

easing in environmental regulations.

"We're not talking about dropping standards," he said.

"We're talking about processes here."

Kathleen Quirk, Adkerson's longtime lieutenant who will

succeed him as CEO, said Freeport was focused on earning the

support of people who live near its mine sites as part of its

push to boost the copper industry's social license to operate.

"We talk a lot about finding common ground. You got to find

it. It's going to take out of your economics, but otherwise you

don't have a viable business plan if you don't come up with a

sustainable solution," said Quirk, currently the company's

president.

Elsewhere in the U.S., Freeport would be open to potentially

expanding its Miami, Arizona, copper smelter, both Adkerson and

Quirk said. But for the near term the company is focused on

expanding its use of copper leaching, both added.

Of two U.S. copper smelters, Freeport operates one and Rio

Tinto the other.

Freeport has struggled to attract workers inside the U.S.,

and Adkerson said filling staffing needs was still a "work in

progress".

"We're trying to advance technology to reduce worker

requirements wherever we can, but it's a U.S. problem for us,"

he said. "In Peru and Indonesia," where the company also mines

copper, "we have flood of applicants for all of our jobs."

Adkerson, who will remain Freeport's chairman, said he does

not expect Quirk's transition to CEO to bring major changes to

the Phoenix-based company.

"This is a seamless management change," Adkerson said.