GERMAN LARREA

Larrea's father Jorge Larrea built Grupo Mexico from a small mining operation. German took over in 1994 and immediately began expanding through acquisitions.

His first major move was buying the Cananea copper mine, one of the largest in the world, during Mexico's privatization wave.

In 1999, he acquired Asarco, an American copper mining company, for $2.2 billion. That deal gave Grupo Mexico operations in Arizona and Texas and made it the third-largest copper producer globally.

The acquisition was controversial because Asarco was in bankruptcy and environmental groups argued the sale let Asarco escape cleanup liabilities.

He also built Grupo Mexico's infrastructure division by acquiring Ferromex and Ferrosur, creating Mexico's largest private railroad network. The railroad moves raw materials from mines to ports and consumer goods across the country.

It is an irreplaceable logistics monopoly.

The copper empire now produces over one million tons per year. With copper prices surging due to electric vehicles, renewable energy, and AI data centers, Larrea's wealth has exploded in recent years.

Grupo Mexico (chairman), Southern Copper Corporation (chairman), Ferromex (railroad), Grupo Mexico Transportes, Asarco

Larrea buys hard assets that cannot be replicated. Copper deposits take millions of years to form and billions of dollars to develop.

Railroads require government concessions that rarely get issued twice. He controls supply chains that competitors cannot build from scratch.

He is extremely patient. He buys assets during commodity downturns when mining companies are desperate and sells nothing during upturns.

He lets the commodity cycle work in his favor rather than trying to time it.

He also integrates vertically. He mines the copper, ships it on his railroad, and processes it in his smelters.

Every step of the value chain stays inside Grupo Mexico.

Buying Asarco out of bankruptcy in 1999 for $2.2 billion. The American copper assets alone were worth multiples of the purchase price.

Combined with existing Mexican operations, the deal made Grupo Mexico one of the top three copper producers globally. That position becomes more valuable every year as copper demand accelerates.

In 2006, 65 miners died in an explosion at the Pasta de Conchos coal mine owned by Grupo Mexico. The disaster exposed safety violations and triggered a national outcry.

The miners' bodies were never recovered. The government sealed the mine.

Families fought for years to get the remains. It became the defining tragedy of Mexican mining and attached permanently to Larrea's legacy.

Own what the world needs and cannot easily replace. Copper is essential for electrification, construction, electronics, and renewable energy.

The demand is structural, not cyclical. He does not need to predict markets.

He just needs to keep producing copper at the lowest possible cost.

He also believes in vertical integration. Controlling the mine, the railroad, and the processing plant means no middleman takes a cut.

Every dollar of margin stays inside the company.

He has children who are being groomed to take over Grupo Mexico. The company is a family dynasty.

Beyond that, almost nothing is publicly known about his personal life. He makes Carlos Slim look chatty.

He studied business administration in Mexico. No public details about his specific university or any advanced degrees.

His real education was working alongside his father in the mining business from a young age.

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