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Grupo México, S.A.B. de C.V.
Grupo México digs up copper and other metals, and also runs freight trains that carry cargo across Mexico.
Grupo México is one of the world's biggest copper miners, and it also happens to run the biggest freight railroad in Mexico. Those are two very different businesses under one roof: pulling metal out of the ground, and moving other companies' cargo around the country on trains.
The mining side is the heart of the company. Its main subsidiary, Southern Copper, digs copper out of large mines in Peru and Mexico — copper that ends up in wiring, motors, pipes, and electronics all over the world. It also produces silver, gold, zinc, and other metals as byproducts, and it runs smelters and refineries that turn raw ore into purified metal. Copper is the big moneymaker because the world needs vast amounts of it for electrical grids, electric cars, and construction, and the price of copper swings with global demand. When copper prices are high, Grupo México makes a lot of money; when they fall, profits shrink fast. That price exposure is the company's biggest strength and its biggest vulnerability. The railroad side, Grupo México Transportes, operates a large network of tracks connecting factories, ports, and border crossings. Industrial customers pay it to haul cars, grain, cement, chemicals, and containers. Trains are cheap for moving heavy stuff long distances, and in Mexico there is limited competition on the rails, which makes this a steady, cash-generating business that balances out the wild swings of mining.
Grupo México is controlled by billionaire Germán Larrea, one of Mexico's richest people, and the company has grown largely by buying assets and running them lean. It generates piles of cash and returns much of it to shareholders through dividends. The company has also faced serious criticism: its Buenavista del Cobre mine spilled a massive amount of copper sulfate solution into a river in 2014, one of Mexico's worst mining environmental disasters, drawing fines and years of scrutiny. So this is a business that makes real, essential stuff the modern world runs on — and one that carries real environmental and political risk along with it.
Saved answer · last researched 12 Nov 2026