Layoffs and other cost controls have helped Tucson-based Asarco LLC cut its production costs while boosting output, parent company Grupo Mexico said in announcing its second-quarter earnings.
In the second quarter, Asarcoβs copper production cost, net of byproducts, was $1.66 per pound, 19 percent less than in the second quarter of 2015 and 34 percent below the same period of 2014, according to Grupo Mexicoβs financial report on Monday.
The company said the cost reduction was the result of an ongoing effort to control costs, βincluding the partial shutdown of our less efficient operations at the Hayden Concentrator Plant, as well as a reduction in our labor force by 454 employees.β
Last August, Asarco said it would drop 211 workers as a result of the Hayden concentrator shutdown, after laying off 130 workers from three of its four Arizona sites earlier in 2015.
Despite the cost-cutting, Asarco managed to increase production during the first half of 2016 by 3 percent, to 80,594 tons of copper, the company said.
Companywide, Grupo Mexico posted a net profit of $350.3 million in the second quarter, down by 4.3 percent from the same period a year ago, as sales fell nearly 5 percent.
