Peru's Southern Copper Has Been Thriving Amidst a Boom
Southern Copper's net income hit a record $3.4B last year, becoming 5th largest globally.
Copper is the most widely used metal in energy generation, transmission infrastructure, and storage; it's also commonly used to build houses and automobiles. Its price has reached all-time highs in the past two years, and the copper mining industry has been booming.
Two forces best explain the surge in prices. First, copper has been increasingly important as the world transitions lots of energy into renewables like solar and electric vehicles. At the same time, the production of copper hasn't been keeping up with the growth other important metals have had. In simple economic terms: demand is exploding, and supply isn't keeping up.
Southern Copper has been part of the industry since 1952 and is now the 5th largest copper company worldwide. Grupo Mexico acquired the company in 2005, and since then, it has become an excellent investment. Southern Copper has a higher market cap than Grupo Mexico. Last year, it hit its highest-ever revenues and net income ($3.4B).