Southern Copper Corporation is a mining company that was founded in 1952. The current incarnation of Southern Copper can be traced to the 2005 acquisition of Southern Peru Copper Corporation by the Mexican copper producer Minera México. 88.9 percent of Southern Copper is owned by Mexican mining conglomerate Grupo México. Based on 2007 reserves data, Southern Copper is the world's largest publicly traded copper mining company and the world's seventh largest copper mining company based on 2007 sales. In addition, the firm is the eighth largest copper smelting company. The firm ranks among the world's largest producers of molybdenum, silver, and zinc. The company is a major producer and refiner of copper, molybdenum, zinc, silver, lead, and gold, and operates mines and smelters in Mexico and in Peru, in the Andes mountains southeast of Lima. Since 2012, the company has made major strides in improving their production methods. Wikipedia