Southern Copper Corporation is a mining company that was founded in 1952. The current incarnation of Southern Copper can be traced to the 2005 acquisition of

Southern Peru Copper Corporation Southern Copper Corporation is a mining company that was founded in 1952. The current incarnation of Southern Copper can be traced to the 2005 acquisition of Southern Peru Copper Corporation by the Mexican copper producer Minera México. 88.9 p ...

by the Mexican copper producer Minera México. 88.9 percent of Southern Copper is owned by Mexican mining conglomerate

Grupo México Grupo México is a Mexican conglomerate that operates through the following divisions: Mining (Minera Mexico), Transportation (Ferromex, GMxT), Infrastructure and Fundacion Grupo Mexico. Founded in 1978, Grupo México became a significant player ...

(per proxy statement dated March 27, 2018) . Based on 2007 reserves data, Southern Copper is the world's largest publicly traded

copper mining Copper extraction is the multi-stage process of obtaining copper from list of copper ores, its ores. The conversion of copper ores consists of a series of physical, chemical, and electrochemical processes. Methods have evolved and vary with coun ...

company and the world's seventh largest copper mining company based on 2007 sales. In addition, the firm is the eighth largest copper

smelting Smelting is a process of applying heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to extract a desired base metal product. It is a form of extractive metallurgy that is used to obtain many metals such as iron-making, iron, copper extraction, copper ...

company. The firm ranks among the world's largest producers of

molybdenum Molybdenum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mo (from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'') and atomic number 42. The name derived from Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lead ores. Molybdenum minerals hav ...

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

, and

zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...

. The company is a major producer and refiner of copper, molybdenum, zinc, silver, lead, and gold, and operates mines and smelters in Mexico and in Peru, in the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

mountains southeast of

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

. Since 2012, the company has made major strides in improving their production methods. During 2013, 60.7 million dollars in environmental capital expenditures were spent on the following programs: water recovery systems to conserve water and minimize impact on nearby streams; vegetation programs to stabilize the surface of the tailings dumps; implementation of scrubbing technology in the mines to reduce dust emissions. For these continued efforts towards sustainable practices, the company was awarded with the Fray International Sustainability Award in 2014. CEO M. Oscar Gonzalez Rocha, appeared in Mexico for the SIPS 2014/Shechtman International Symposium to accept this award on the company's behalf.

Major operations

The firm's operations are primarily within southern

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

and northern Mexico.

Operations in southern Peru

Southern Peruvian operations include the mines located at the Cuajone and

Toquepala mine The Toquepala mine is a large porphyry copper mine in the Tacna Province, Tacna Department, Peru. The mine is an open-pit mine producing copper, molybdenum, rhenium and silver with minor gold and zinc. The Toquepala mine and the Ilo smelter wer ...

s. The two mines produced a total of 359,655 tons of copper in 2007, with Cuajone producing 182,117 tons and Toquepala producing 177,538 tons respectively. A recent strike at the largest mine, Cuajone, was suspended pending

mediation Mediation is a structured, voluntary process for resolving disputes, facilitated by a neutral third party known as the mediator. It is a structured, interactive process where an independent third party, the mediator, assists disputing parties ...

between the two parties.

Tia Maria Tia Maria is a dark coffee liqueur made in Italy using Jamaican coffee beans. The main ingredients are coffee beans, South Jamaican rum, vanilla, and sugar, blended to an alcoholic content of 20%. History Tia Maria was originally made in ...

is a copper project mine which has been granted the environmental approval by the Peruvian Ministry of Energy and Mining (MINEM) to move forward with the project development. Geoservice Ingeniería was the engineering and consulting firm in charge of executing satisfactory the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) studies, the EIA approval was received on August 1, 2014, with directorial resolution Nº392-2014-MEM/DGA-AM given by MINEM. The social protest against the project started in March 2015, causing tens of injuries and up to the beginning of May 2015, two deaths have also led to massive strikes and road blocks in the region. Local farmers fear the open-pit project will contaminate water supplies and cover their crops in dust.

Operations in Mexico

The

Cananea Mine The Buenavista mine, historically known as the Cananea copper mine, is a large open pit copper mine located in the north-west of Mexico in Cananea, Sonora. It lies south of the international border near Nogales, Arizona. Buenavista mine repres ...

, located in northern Mexico, produced 98,503 tons of copper in 2007. It is among the world's largest copper mines in terms of reserves, and has the longest remaining mine life of any major open-pit copper mine in the world, based on current production levels. La Caridad Mine, located in northern Mexico, produced 124,972 tons of copper in 2007.

References

External links

* http://www.southerncoppercorp.com/ * http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2008/06/23/20080623biz-copper0623.html

reuters.com
* http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/249953 {{Authority control Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Companies in the S&P/BVL Peru General Index Companies in the S&P Latin America 40 Copper mining companies of Mexico Companies established in 1952 1952 establishments in Mexico Grupo México