Mexican mining and railroad company Grupo Mexico SAB (GMEXICO.MX) said Thursday that it’s proposing to invest $3.5 billion in 2013, including $2 billion in its mining operations, $1 billion in infrastructure and $500 million in its railways.
The company, which mines copper and other metals in Mexico, Peru, and the U.S., and runs two of Mexico’s three railways, said in a filing with the Mexican stock exchange that the capital expenditure budget to be submitted for board approval marks a sharp increase over the $2.12 billion invested in 2012.
Grupo Mexico said its principal mining investments will be at the Buenavista copper mine at Cananea, Mexico, which along with expansion projects in Peru and the U.S. is expected to raise annual copper production by 625,000 metric tons to 1.4 million tons in 2015.
Investment in the transport division is aimed at increasing efficiency through the construction of new sidings and railway yards, as well as parallel tracks in areas of busy rail traffic.
Grupo Mexico said that since Mexico’s railroads were privatized in the late 1990s, the amount of cargo moved by rail in the country has risen to 20% from about 8%, and that it expects that to eventually exceed 30%.
In its infrastructure division, Grupo Mexico is raising its investment plan to $1 billion from $631 million last year. Projects include the construction of two 250-megawatt electricity generating plants and a 74-megawatt wind-powered plant to supply the company’s own facilities, a highway, and the acquisition of oil drilling platforms as it seeks to become a significant Mexican oil services player.
