Differentiate fixed costs and variable costs. 1  Total cost is the sum of fixed and variable costs.  Variable costs change according to the quantity of a good or service being produced. The amount of materials and labor that is needed for to make a good increases in direct proportion to the number of goods produced.
Southern Copper Corporation is an American-based copper producer with major operations in Mexico and Peru. Grupo Mexico currently owns 75.1% of the company, which produced 487 thousand metric tons of copper in 2010. Major assets include the Cuajone and Toquepala mines in Peru and the Cananea mine in Mexico.
Uses of copper. Figure 1 Uses of copper. In the UK, copper is mainly used to make semi-finished products (called semis) which are made from the refined metal, either as pure copper or as copper alloys. They can be in the form of wire, rod, bar, plate, sheet, strip, foil or tube. Over half the copper is sold in the form of cables, wire and tubes.