Group items tagged

Southern Copper, one of the world's largest copper producers, said it would invest $2.8 billion during the next three years to develop new capacity and that the program would lift annual output by 342,000 tonnes of copper and 6,600 tonnes of molybdenum. Of that investment total, $1.8 billion is earmarked for Peru and $1 billion for Mexico. Some $600 million is scheduled to be spent in Peru during the 2010 fiscal year, while roughly $200 million is tagged for Mexico, the company said. Among the projects Southern Copper said are progressing are its Toquepala expansion and the Tia Maria development in Peru.

Reuters quoted an executive of Grupo Mexico as saying that Mexican copper output will rise about 5% in 2010 from last year to 250,000 tonnes.

n 2010, thermal energy displaced hydro as the major source of energy generation for the Chilean Central Interconnected System.  Coal, natural gas, and diesel supplied over 50% of energy consumed while hydropower accounted for 48%.  This trend is expected to continue in 2011 if current water shortage conditions persist. (El Mercurio, 1/4/11)  Last year’s drought created a 26% increase in thermal generation as compared to 2009.

The Regional Energy Efficiency Strategy initiative led by Bun-ca has reported an energy savings of 9368 MWh over the past six years, equivalent to 4992 tons of carbon dioxide, by working with 190 companies in the industrial and commercial sectors to become more energy efficient.   Recently UNEP’s En.lighten study estimated that Costa Rica could save 276,000 MWh and $27.6 million per year if they changed all light bulbs to CFLs.  The cost of this change was estimated to be $22.63 million.  (El Financiero CR, 1/3/11)

The Mexican government is planning to invest four billion dollars to build a one thousand megawatt renewable energy storage facility in Northern Mexico.   The facility will use a special kind of sodium sulfide batteries for the project which is expected to be completed in the next six years.  (Clean Techies, 1/6/11)

Mexico’s opening of its energy sector to private participation will probably lead to a rapid acceleration in growth of manufacturing and services.

The report concludes that the emerging economies are set to grow much faster than the G7 over the next four decades. Figures for average growth in GDP in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms (which adjusts for price level differences across countries) show Nigeria leading the way over the period from 2012 to 2050, followed by Vietnam, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. John Hawksworth, PwC Chief Economist and co-author of the report, explains: "The global financial crisis has hit the G7 much harder than the E7 in the short term. And it has also caused downward revisions in the estimates of longer term trend growth in the G7 – particularly those economies in Europe and the US that had previously relied on excessive public and private borrowing to drive growth.” This means that, in PPP terms: The E7 could overtake the G7 before 2020 By 2050 China, the US and India could be by far the largest economies – with a big gap to Brazil in fourth place, ahead of Japan And by the same time, Russia, Mexico and Indonesia could be bigger than Germany or the UK; Turkey could overtake Italy; and Nigeria could rise up the league table, as could Vietnam and South Africa in the longer term. Beyond the largest economies, Malaysia has considerable long-term growth potential, while Poland could continue to outpace its Western European neighbours for some decades to come.

Group-wide and including the joint venture plants, Leoni now has 11 facilities in China with a total of about 6,000 employees. In terms of consolidated sales, which in the current financial year will amount to about 350 million euros, China meanwhile represents the third largest market after Germany and France. The Company has been operating for 18 years with its own facilities in China. To be able to satisfy the heavy demand from the automotive industry for cable harnesses and wiring systems, and especially to be able to supply for new vehicle models, Leoni is also setting up new production lines and expanding existing plants in other regions. The Wiring Systems Division alone currently has 12 capital investment projects, involving for instance plans for two new facilities in Egypt as well as one each in the Ukraine and Russia. Furthermore, there will be additional production halls in Brazil, Mexico, Morocco, Tunisia and Serbia among other places. After the expansion is completed, the Wiring Systems Division’s network will comprise more than 30 production facilities with a total of more than 550,000 square metres of factory floor space.

Ahmsa Steel Israel, a subsidiary of Mexican integrated steel producer Altos Hornos de México, is moving ahead with a project to produce copper in the Middle Eastern country’s Negev desert.

Southern Copper Corp., which won control this week over its largest mine in Mexico after a three- year strike, expects to reach full production capacity next year, Chief Executive Officer Oscar Gonzalez Rocha said today.

Southern Copper Corp. ( PCU | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) expects to produce about 500,000 metric tons of copper in 2010, following mined output of about 483,376 tons in 2009, a high-level official said. Speaking on a conference call on Tuesday, chief financial officer Genaro Guerrero said the forecast doesn't include any production from the Cananea mine in Mexico, which has been closed due to a labor dispute.

"Very strong transmission cable demand in the United States and Brazil as well as a growing business in Mexico offset normal seasonal volume declines in other product areas in North America and ROW. In Europe, the Company experienced better than expected demand across the majority of its businesses and the achievement of project milestones associated with our submarine energy cable business. Our project related businesses by their nature have been and we expect will continue to be volatile in terms of their revenues and earnings recognition. While the benefit of a stronger fourth quarter in our transmission and project related businesses is welcome, our end markets and overall demand have only started to improve in many locations.