Southern Copper Corporation, one of the world’s largest integrated copper producers, will open a new zinc plant at its mining unit in Buenavista, Mexico, in 2023.
The company‘s major production includes copper, molybdenum, zinc and silver.
All of its mining, smelting and refining facilities are located in Peru and Mexico and it carries out exploration activities in those countries and in Argentina, Chile and Ecuador.
Zinc plant
Buenavista is currently applying conventional open pit mining methods to extract copper ore for further processing in the concentrator.
In addition, a new zinc concentrator is under construction, which will increase grinding capacity and allow it to recover zinc, along with copper and molybdenum contents.
The original concentrator currently has a nominal grinding capacity of 82,000 tons per day. The second concentrator began operations in 2016 and currently has a nominal grinding capacity of 115,000 tons per day.
For its part, the ESDE facilities have a cathode production capacity of 174,470 tons per year.
The Buenavista deposit is considered one of the largest porphyry copper deposits in the world.
Buenavista is the oldest continuously operating copper mine in North America, with operations dating back to 1899.
High-grade ore deposits in the district were mined exclusively using underground methods.
The Anaconda Company acquired the property in 1917. In the early 1940s, Anaconda began developing the first open pit at Buenavista.
Then, in 1990, through a public auction procedure, Minera México acquired 100% of Buenavista’s mining assets for 475 million dollars.
Copper
The considerable scale of its operations makes Southern Copper Corporation one of the largest mining companies in Peru and Mexico.
The company also has the largest copper reserves in the world.
Southern Copper Corporation’s Mexican operations are carried out through its subsidiary, Minera Mexico, which it acquired in 2005.
Minera México is mainly engaged in the extraction and processing of copper, molybdenum, zinc, silver, gold and lead. Minera México operates through subsidiaries that are grouped into three separate units.
