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.
Copper is mined mostly in open pit mines, such as those found in Utah, New Mexico, and Chile. Chile produces the largest percentage of the world's copper with nearly 33% of the world's export. Copper is also found in the U.S., Indonesia, and Peru. Although copper has been used for thousands of years about 95% of all extracted copper was mined within the last hundred. In addition to the many mines found all over the world much of the copper we use has been recycled.