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.
Chilean copper-mining company Antofagasta produced 370,000 tonnes of copper in 2016, a decrease from 2015âs total of 370,000 tonnes. In the first half of 2017, the company produced 346,300 tonnes of copper, a 7.1-percent increase over the same period in 2016.
Coming in at the No.10 spot is the Laramide Porphyry copper cluster of Arizona, New Mexico and Sonora (Mexico). The Morenci open pit, located in southwest Arizona, is the largest copper-producing operation in North America, and majority owner Phelps Dodge Corp. has been mining this rich deposit since the 1880s.