Cananea Consolidated Copper Company from nationalization to privatization: 1972-1991

Copper, a base metal, became important in the late 19th century with the development of electricity and other industrial uses. La Cananea, a Mexican copper mine was acquired and worked by an American, Colonel Greene, between 1896 and 1907. From 1907 until the mine was nationalized in 1972, the mine was successfully worked by Anaconda, an American multinational copper company. Poor performance under nationalization and a change of policy by the Mexican government led to the privatization of the mine in 1990. The process of re-privatization was complicated by 2 factors: the value of the mine and employee redundance. This paper considers the problems of ownership and management from nationalization to privatization from 1972-1991.