Denver — At the Mission copper mine in southern Arizona, Asarco plans to reduce production and increase its stripping of waste material.
Daily output is expected to fall 33% to 41,000 tonnes, while waste removal above higher-grade ores jumps 25%.
Asarco, now a wholly owned subsidiary of
The announcement comes at a time when copper prices are falling off recent highs. The Comex spot price of the red metal recently dipped to US83 per lb. after climbing above US90 per lb.
Asarco’s cash operating costs in the third quarter were US70.4 per lb., well above Grupo Mexico’s Mexican and South American copper operations. For the nine months of 2000, Asarco’s cash costs were US80.2 per lb.
Grupo Mexico’s net debt related to the acquisition of Asarco was lowered to US$900 million from US$1.7 billion in the quarter. Also, cost savings from the acquisition amounted to US$96 million, pulling Asarco into positive cash flow.
Cash operating costs from the Mexican operations averaged US40.2 per lb. in the third quarter, and US42.7 for the 9-month period. Production from the company’s 54%-owned
So far this year, Grupo Mexico has produced 696,944 tonnes of copper from all three divisions. Sales reached a record US$2.63 billion as a result of the acquisition of Asarco and Southern Peru in late 1999, though the conglomerate posted a net loss of US$38.9 million (or 6 per share).
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