Southern Copper posts $271.6m in Q2 profit

The miner attributed the jump in earnings from $140.6m it made in last year's comparable period to higher metal prices

LIMA (Reuters) - 

Southern Copper (SPC.LM: Quote) (SCCO.N: Quote) posted second-quarter net profit of $271.6 million, higher than $140.6 million in the same period a year ago, as metals prices improved.

The company, which operates mines in Mexico and Peru, on Tuesday said second-quarter sales were $738.2 million, up from $475.2 million in the 2009 April-to-June period.

The unit of Grupo Mexico (GMEXICOB.MX: Quote) did not comment on a proposed merger with its sister company Asarco.

Grupo Mexico said on Friday it planned to combine its Arizona-based miner Asarco with its Latin American mining operation to cut costs, after pulling the U.S. miner out of bankruptcy last year.

Combining Asarco with Southern Copper would increase savings between the two units and give Southern Copper shareholders exposure to Asarco's growth potential, Grupo Mexico said in Friday's regulatory filing. Grupo Mexico owns all of Asarco and 80 percent of Southern Copper.

The plan assigned a $6 billion value to Asarco, which went into bankruptcy under the heavy burden of environmental complaints around its mining operations in the United States. (Reporting by Patricia Velez and Mica Rosenberg; Editing by Terry Wade, Gary Hill)

© Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved

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