Southern Copper Corporation

Copper output is shrinking while record silver and molybdenum prices hand Southern Copper the cash to build its replacement. Tia Maria is 42% built and paid for with the company's first bond, so the next three years turn on whether new copper arrives before the grades run out. How much of 2028's copper guidance depends on Tia Maria ramping on time?

• Tia Maria crossed from promise into construction.

  It is 42% built, with first copper due in late 2027 and 120,000 tons a year once running. Its first bond raised $1.25 billion and drew three times that in orders, so the company is borrowing to grow for the first time.

• By-products, not copper, now pay the bills.

  Silver prices rose 118%, pushing the cost of mining copper after credits down to five cents in Q2 FY2026. Silver may now be its main by-product, so the copper business earns most of its money from what comes out of the ground alongside it. What happens to that near-zero cash cost if silver prices fall back?

• Copper output keeps falling and the fix is years away.

  Output fell in Q2 FY2026, with the 2026 plan barely better on falling ore grades at Toquepala and Cuajone. The fix, a 40,000-ton expansion at Cuajone, is not board-approved yet, so record profits rest on prices, not on more copper. How much of the Cuajone decline is permanent versus temporary?