The company was founded in 1952 as a joint venture between
ASARCO and
Newmont. It began copper mining operations in 1960. In 1995,
ASARCO acquired an additional 10% of the company from
Newmont for $116.4 million, raising its stake to 63%. Southern Copper became a
public company in January 1996 after a reorganization. In April 2005, the company acquired Grupo Minera in Mexico from
Grupo México for $3.75 billion. In October 2005, it changed its name from Southern Peru to Southern Copper Corporation. In 2011, a court ruled that the price of Grupo Minera was unfair and Grupo Mexico was forced to return $1.3 billion in shares to Southern Copper. In November 2011, Grupo México cancelled plans to merge Southern Copper with ASARCO after shareholder dissent. From 2007 to 2010, intermittent
strike actions at the
Buenavista mine disrupted production; union members even threatened to blow up the mine. ==References==