Mission South Mill Expansion Dedicated

Tucson, AZ – Tucson based ASARCO LLC (ASARCO) President and COO Manuel Ramos announced today the dedication of the expansion project for the South Mill of the Mission Mine which has added 9,000 tons more per day of additional crushing and milling capacity at a cost of over $60 million. Since 2010, ASARCO LLC has invested an average $120 million per year in its mining and process units in the United States. At a ceremony today at the Mission Complex attended by local dignitaries, contractors and employees, the expansion of the South Mill was formally dedicated. Commissioning has been ongoing through November and is now substantially complete. The expansion has created 30 new jobs and this increases Mission’s workforce to 660 people. Mission employees are highly compensated, earning an average take-home pay in excess of $62,000 per employee, in addition to generous benefits. “The expansion has increased the South Mill’s production by nearly 50% over the present capacity of 18,000 tons of ore per day,” said Tom Phillips, General Manager of the Mission Complex. “It includes the installation of a 120 foot diameter steel high-rate thickener, two new 3,000 horsepower ball mills, the replacement of existing flotation cells with fifteen (15) 1,500 cubic foot flotation cells, the installation of a new 4,500 cubic foot flotation tank cell, and the installation of oneadditional column flotation cell in the circuit.” The north mill at Mission is currently operating at its capacity of 30,000 tons of ore per day. The concentrate produced at the Mission Mine feeds the ASARCO smelter at Hayden, Arizona. With the expansion, Mission’s combined capacity of both mills will increase to 58,000 tons of ore per day. As part of the expansion a modification to the Title V Air Quality permit was approved by the Pima Country Department of Environmental Quality in December 2011. The permit modification included new controls which have reduced overall emissions from the facility. ASARCO is a subsidiary company of Grupo Mexico with approximated 2,600 employees. The Company is an integrated copper mining, smelting and refining company headquartered in Tucson, Arizona and operates mines, mills and a smelter near Tucson and a refinery in Amarillo, Texas.