Southern Copper Posts Record Net Sales of $4.7 billion as Net Income Jumps 62.7% to a Record $1.8 billion

Southern Copper reported third-quarter 2026 results in a release dated Oct. 20, with net sales at a record $4.7 billion, up 39.1% from a year earlier, and net income attributable to Southern Copper at a record $1.8 billion, up 62.7%.

Operating income was $2.82 billion, up 59.2% from $1.77 billion a year earlier, and the net income margin widened to 38.4% from 32.8%. Net income per share, basic and diluted, was $2.15, up 62.9% from $1.32. The nine-month picture is the same shape at larger scale: net sales of $13.24 billion, up 38.6%, net income of $5.05 billion, up 66.8%, and earnings per share of $6.08. The company reports no separate adjusted earnings-per-share figure in the release; the only adjusted profit measure it presents is Adjusted EBITDA, labeled as such throughout this article.

Prices did the work, not production

The company attributes the record quarter to an uptick in metal prices for all its products and slight growth in zinc sales volume of 0.8%, slightly offset by drops in the sales volumes for copper, molybdenum and silver. Its own price table shows why: the average copper price in the quarter was $6.41 a pound on one benchmark and $6.48 on the other, against $4.44 and $4.83 a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA — the company's non-GAAP measure, reconciled in the release to net income — hit a record $3.04 billion, up 53.9% from $1.98 billion, with the Adjusted EBITDA margin at 64.7% against 58.5%. Cash flow from operating activities was $2.22 billion, up 42.6%, and the operating cash cost per pound of copper, net of by-product revenue credits, fell 77.4% to $0.09 from $0.42, mainly because by-product revenue credits rose 30.6% on better prices.

Copper output slipped as smelting and refining surged

Mined copper production stood at 232,396 tonnes. The release describes the change as down 1.1% in quarter-on-quarter terms; its production table separately shows 232,396 tonnes against 234,892 tonnes in the third quarter of 2025, which is also a decline of 1.1% on TickerGrove's calculation, so the two comparisons coincide at the reported precision. The split underneath was geographic: production at the Mexican operations rose 2.5% on higher ore grades, while production in Peru fell 6.1% on lower ore grades. Smelted production rose 17.8% and refined production rose 16.1% in the quarter. By-products were softer: mined silver production fell 1.9%, mined zinc production fell 7.9% to 41,880 tonnes, and molybdenum production fell 2.2%. Copper sales were 233,278 tonnes, down 0.4% from a year earlier — the clearest sign that this was a price quarter, not a volume quarter.

Capital spending, a separate dividend decision and what remains open

Capital investments were $515.8 million in the quarter, up 47.7% and equal to 28.6% of net income, and $1.38 billion in the nine months. The decade capital program exceeds $15 billion, including more than $10.3 billion in Peruvian projects. The Tia Maria project in Peru was 49.6% complete as of Sept. 30, 2026, with $884.3 million invested; it is expected to produce 120,000 tonnes of copper a year in its early years, with operations expected to begin in the first half of 2028. Early site work began in September on the El Pilar project in Mexico, where construction is to start in the first quarter of 2027 and production is expected in the second half of 2029 on a $551 million budget. Chairman German Larrea said: "We are very pleased with our strong third-quarter performance, which delivered a record for net sales, adjusted EBITDA and net income." Separately from the results, the board had authorized on Oct. 15, 2026 a quarterly cash dividend of $1.30 a share and a stock dividend of 0.0106 shares a share, payable Nov. 19, 2026 to shareholders of record on Nov. 3, 2026 — a board action dated five days before the release, not a decision announced with the earnings print. Published tallies of analyst expectations for the quarter did not settle to a single figure, so no beat-or-miss verdict against expectations is stated here. The company scheduled its earnings call for Oct. 22, 2026; no guidance or project update from that call is verified in this article. What to watch next is whether metal prices hold near these levels, whether Peruvian ore grades recover, and whether Tia Maria stays on its path to first-half 2028 operations.