Southern copper has the world's largest reserves and will produce 3 billion pounds of copper in 2025

Published: Apr 26, 2019 10:00

SMM4 26-according to the Seeking Alpha website, Southern Copper (SCCO) is one of the largest and lowest-cost copper producers in the world.

At the same time, Southern Copper continues to enjoy the benefits of cost-cutting. Although the cost of fuel and other materials increased by 16.5 per cent, cash costs fell by 5.3 per cent to 87 cents per pound in 2018. Taking into account the average price of its main products last year, southern copper expects the average cash cost per pound of copper to be 80 cents per pound in 2019, a further reduction of 8%, consolidating its leadership as a low-cost producer.

At present, the southern copper industry is ready to cope with the expected large-scale shortage of copper supply.

Its operations are mainly located in Peru, such as the Cuajone and Toquepala copper mines, as well as the IMMSA copper mine, Buenavista copper mine and La Caridad copper mine in Mexico.

In June 2018, Southern Copper completed the acquisition of the Cajamarca Michiquillay project in Peru, which has 1.15 billion tons of mineral resources. The company will produce 225000 tons of copper and molybdenum, gold and silver and other by-products a year at a competitive cash cost. Michiquillay offers the company a huge opportunity for growth in line with its mining portfolio in the Americas, particularly in Peru. It is likely to become one of the largest copper mines in Peru.

Compared with other major copper producers, the company's reserves are indeed staggering. Southern copper reserves are 48 per cent higher than those of Codelco, the Chilean national mining company, and 49 per cent higher than those of free port (Freeport-McMoRan).

At present, the total reserves of southern copper is 684.17 million tons, or 136.834 billion pounds. According to production levels, southern copper reserves should be enough to last 60 years.

Therefore, with the support of positive market prospects, increasing low-cost production and growth investment, the performance of Southern Copper may continue to improve.

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