SCCO vs TGB: How Southern Copper and Trekor Metals Compare (2026)

Same yardstick, side by side (as of August 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Reading it: TGB is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. SCCO and TGB share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined SCCO and TGB exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

Southern Copper (SCCO) is one of the largest integrated copper producers in the world, with operations concentrated in Peru and Mexico. The company mines, smelts, and refines copper and produces meaningful byproduct volumes of molybdenum, zinc, silver, and other metals, which help offset costs. Southern Copper is known for very large, long-life ore reserves and among the lowest cash costs in the industry, a structural advantage that lets it stay profitable across much of the commodity cycle. It is majority owned by Grupo Mexico, a large Mexican mining and infrastructure conglomerate, which influences capital allocation and strategy. The investment case is closely tied to the price of copper, a metal central to electrification, electric vehicles, renewable power, grid buildout, and construction. Southern Copper pursues a pipeline of expansion and greenfield projects to grow output over time, though large mining projects carry permitting, environmental, and social-license risk, particularly in Peru. Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, with primary operations in Latin America, SCCO is a high-dividend, commodity-leveraged miner whose results rise and fall with copper prices.

Full SCCO guide

Trekor Metals, which trades as TGB on NYSE American and as TKO in Toronto and London, is a copper producer with two operating assets it owns outright. Gibraltar, near Williams Lake in British Columbia, is one of the largest open-pit copper mines in Canada and produced about 30 million pounds of copper and roughly 0.6 million pounds of molybdenum in the second quarter of 2026, at a first-quarter total operating cost around US$2.63 per pound. Florence Copper in Pinal County, Arizona is the newer and more consequential asset: instead of digging and milling ore, it pumps a weak acid solution through a permeable oxide deposit and recovers copper from the returning solution through a solvent-extraction and electrowinning plant, producing LME grade A cathode on site. Florence poured its first commercial copper in early 2026, produced about 5.2 million pounds in the second quarter with roughly 110 wells running, and is guided at 30 to 35 million pounds for the full year against a design capacity near 85 million pounds. The company also holds the undeveloped Yellowhead, Aley and New Prosperity projects in British Columbia. The Taseko name was retired on 25 June 2026 after a shareholder vote, with the ticker unchanged.

Full TGB guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• SCCO drivers: Low-cost, long-life reserves; Leverage to the copper demand thesis.
• TGB drivers: The Florence ramp is the swing factor; Copper price and the US premium.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: Southern Copper's earnings and dividend swing with the price of copper, a volatile commodity sensitive to global growth, China demand, and the dollar, so a copper downturn hits results directly. For TGB, the dominant risk is that Florence's in-situ recovery does not scale as modelled: well-field hydrology, solution grade decay and recovery rates at commercial scale are still being demonstrated, and a shortfall would hit both cash flow and the growth narrative embedded in the share price.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick SCCO if you believe its drivers more; TGB if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the SCCO and TGB guides.

SCCO. Southern Copper's valuation moves with the copper price and the commodity cycle, and its dividend can vary with earnings rather than being fixed. The market often awards it a premium to peers for its low costs and long-life reserves, while applying a discount for political and concentration risk in Peru and Mexico and the Grupo Mexico ownership structure. Figures are approximate and move with copper prices and results; verify current revenue, P/E, and yield.

TGB. The gap between roughly $115 million of trailing EBITDA and only about $11 million of trailing net income is mostly depletion, interest on the 2030 notes and the cost of starting Florence, which is why the trailing P/E is meaningless and the forward multiple near 14x is doing all the work. That forward number assumes Florence keeps ramping and copper holds near current levels, so it is a forecast rather than an observation. Second-quarter figures land after the close on 5 August 2026 and will be the first quarter with a full three months of Florence cathode in the revenue line.

Headline figures (approximate, early 2026): SCCO shows revenue (ttm) ~$11 billion-plus, varies with copper price (verify), profitability Profitable; margins swing with copper prices, cash cost position Among the lowest in the copper industry, p/e (ttm) ~20x to ~30x, varies with cycle (verify); TGB shows revenue (ttm) ~$552M, q1 2026 revenue / adjusted ebitda ~$237M / ~$94M, net income (ttm) ~$11M (~$0.03 per share), market cap / enterprise value ~$2.9B / ~$3.3B.

SCCO and TGB are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined SCCO and TGB exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.