With copper prices surging, Tucson-based Asarco LLC is likely to expand two of its Southern Arizona mines.
The Ray and Mission mines are the ones most likely to be expanded, a United Steelworkers union official told Platts, which publishes trade information for the mining industry.
Calls to Manny Armenta, of the United Steelworkers union, were not returned. A spokesman for Asarco said the company has no comment.
Asarco produces 400 million pounds of copper annually from its Arizona mines, Platts reported.
The company emerged from Chapter 11 reorganization in 2009, and is a subsidiary of Grupo Mexico SAB, Mexico's largest mining company.
Globally, copper prices that bottomed at $1.33 per pound in 2008 have routinely topped $4 recently and are regularly setting records. Stockpiles of copper on the world's metal exchanges have plunged this year, and some forecasters see a shortage occurring next year. Many forecasters see $5-a-pound prices during the next one to three years.
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In Arizona, the higher prices have sparked renewed interest in several long-recognized, largely untapped deposits. Moreover, the state's existing mines have restored many jobs they cut in 2008 and 2009.