Good afternoon. Thank you for holding, and welcome to Grupo México's Third Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call. With us this afternoon are all of Grupo México's top executives, who will discuss the third quarter 2021 financial performance of the company, giving you a summary of the latest news and address any questions you may have at the end of the call. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that information discussed on today's call may include forward-looking statements regarding the company's results and prospects, which are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially, and the company cautions not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Grupo México undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. All results are expressed in the full U.S. GAAP.
The presentation may be followed through our webcast, but if you wish to ask a question during the Q&A session, you will need to do so via phone call by pressing star one. A copy of the slides that the company will be reviewing today is available on the website at grupomexico.com. At this time, I would like to remind everyone that your lines must be in listen-only mode until the question and answer session. Now we will begin with Ms. Marlene Finny.
Thank you, Gigi. Thank you so much. Good afternoon, everybody, and thank you for joining us today for Grupo México's third quarter earnings conference call. As Gigi mentioned, here with me today are the top executives from our different divisions to comment on the different results. During the call, we will be following a presentation that can be downloaded from our website or followed by accessing the website at gmexico.com. Today's detailed program can be found on slide number three, and I will start on slide number three. I will start with Grupo México's ESG highlights scorecard and financial highlights for the quarter. Then Mr. Xavier García de Quevedo will provide detailed information regarding our mining division, its financial highlights, project updates, and comments on the industry's economic environment.
He will then be followed by Mr. Leonardo Contreras, who will go through the financial results and main events of our transportation division. Finally, Mr. Francisco Zinser will comment on the relevant events that occurred during the quarter in our infrastructure division. At the end, the line will be open for questions and answers. Before we continue with our results, I want to highlight that Grupo México's capital investments that have exceeded $22 billion over the last 10 years, along with the favorable metal prices environment seen during the year, we have been able to achieve great results. These results enable us to continue being an agent of change in the communities where we operate, driving job creation and economic growth. With that being said, let's start with our ESG highlights in slide number five.
We have backed several programs and initiatives in the regions where we operate in order to help communities face the COVID-19 pandemic. Our employees' vaccination rate has seen a relevant increase. In our mining division, we have 87% of the workforce with at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, followed by 74% and 68% in our infrastructure and transportation division employees respectively. We reaffirm our commitment to preserve and improve the environment by generating a net positive impact on biodiversity through our mining operations. Also, something that we are glad about is that the semi-detailed environmental impact study for the exploration project of Michiquillay in Peru has been approved by the Ministry of Energy and Mines. In Mexico, the Mexican Mining Chamber acknowledged La Caridad mine, refinery, and metallurgical plant for achieving the best safety performances in 2020.
We are also recognized by the government of Sonora as a culturally responsible company due to our volunteer initiatives implemented to promote and safeguard the state's history, culture, and traditions. These are just some of the examples of our continuous efforts to excel in ESG matters, and we'll continue to work hard to reach best practices as this is part of our strategy, at the core of our strategy. In the next slide, which is slide number six, you can see the scorecard for the quarter, showing outstanding results as we achieve accumulated sales of $1 1 billion, an increase of 43% versus when compared to 2020, mainly driven by higher metal prices and the transportation volume recovery.
Our EBITDA totaled $6.74 billion during the first nine months of 2021, an increase of over 85% versus the same period of last year, getting our EBITDA margin at 61.2%, an increase of over 470 basis points versus the same period. On accumulated basis, our operating income netted $5.6 billion, an increase of more than almost 113% versus the same third quarter of 2020. As you know, our board approved to maintain a MXN 1.75 dividend of MXN 1.5 per share, reinforcing our strong dividend program, which translates into a 7.4% dividend yield, which if I'm not mistaken, we are the highest, we have the highest dividend yield within the Mexican company.
As for our copper production, it totaled 815,000 tons for the first nine months of the year. This implies a slight decrease of 2.8% versus the same period of 2020, as we have guided the market previously. We are expecting to close the year with almost 1.1 million tons of copper. Finally, I would like to highlight our net cash cost, which averaged MXN 0.80 per pound of copper, an improvement of 6.6% versus the same period of last year, reaffirming us as leaders in the industry. Moving forward to slide seven, you can find a summary of our financial highlights, which are there for you if you have in hand, in case you need any points during the presentation. In slide eight. Thank you.
You can see that Grupo México maintains a solid balance sheet with low leverage and a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 0.3 x. This is low. This ratio has been decreasing as we generate a lot of cash flow because of higher metal prices and the pickup in volume from our transportation division. As you know, our debt is mainly issued in U.S. dollars, and it represents 81% of the total debt, while the rest is denominated in peso, which is mainly for the transportation division and part of the infrastructure division. On this slide, you can also see the dividend paid from 2019 to 2021, and the increase we have been having in our dividend, and the implied dividend yield, including the MXN 1.75 cash dividend for the quarter approved by the board.
As for our debt maturity profile picture on slide nine, we continue to have comfortable maturity schedule with no payments of over $1 billion until 2035, and a cash flow generation during the quarter of around $600 million to total $6.2 billion at the end of the quarter. Now I will let Mr. Xavier García de Quevedo comment on the mining division performance.
Thank you, Marlene. Hello, everyone, and thank you again for joining us today. Let me start with the mining division operation and financial highlights on slide 11. First, I would like to highlight that we achieved the highest copper, moly, gold, and silver quarterly production of the year. Besides these increases, we continue to see a reduction of 2.2% in copper production versus 2020, totaling 274,000 tons. This decline is due to the lower ore grades and recovery levels.
The year-to-date decline in production has been offset by higher copper and by-product prices, boosting our sales during the year and the quarter, ending the period in $2 billion, a 31% increase when compared to the same period of last year, and almost reaching $9 billion for the first three quarters of the year, a 52% increase versus 2020 on a cumulative basis. Our net cash costs for the quarter ended at $77.20, a 6.1% decrease versus the third quarter of 2020. This was supported by higher throughput by-product credits, along with an effective cost control reinforcing our position of cost leaders in the industry worldwide.
Higher metal prices and our cost efficiency focus let us achieve a 110% increase in EBITDA when compared to the same period last year on a cumulative basis, reaching $5.7 billion and setting our EBITDA margin for the quarter at 52.5%. We were able to generate $871 million of net income during the quarter and [inaudible] billion for the first nine months of 2021. The mining division CapEx for the quarter netted $253 million and a total of $720 million for the first nine months of the year. I would like to continue talking about our projects and their progress in slides 12 and 13. Let's first talk about our top 10 projects.
In Pilar, the construction of the road for mining trucks between the Pilar pit and the primary crushing plant in the Caridad has been completed. We expected to start production in the second quarter of 2022. With an $81.4 million investment in Pilar of the total $159 million investment already deployed. In our Buenavista field project, which is expected to be operational by the third quarter of 2023, the engineering phase has been completed on the new [inaudible] inside. Construction sites are in progress, and we have 93% progress on procurement. Out of the $413 million CapEx plan for this project, we have invested $187 million so far. It is important to mention that additional preventive COVID-19 protocols continue in place to further advance the project with health and safety.
As for Pilar, the results on the leachates pad confirm that there is a suitable copper recovery. We finished all the metallurgical tests, and the basic engineering for this is already complete. We are planning to start with the detailed engineering and the construction of this project during the year 2022. As well, we have already our environmental impact study has been approved already. Continuing with our long-term projects, I would like to mention several highlights regarding our Michiquillay project. Michiquillay, which is expected to be operational by 2028, will produce 225,000 tons of copper per year, along with by-products of molybdenum, gold, and silver at a competitive cash cost.
Back in 2018, the contract for the acquisition of the project was signed, and an initial payment of $12.5 million was made. To date, the second payment of $12.5 million has been made, allowing us to continue the development of the project. On September 4, 2021, we signed a social agreement with the community of Michiquillay, and we continue the dialogue, expecting positive results with the LA Encañada community to reach a similar agreement. As all this considers, the company is at good standpoint to initiate an in-depth exploration program during the first quarter of 2022.
On slide 14, you can see all our upcoming projects and their impact to production as we continue our journey to reach 3 million tons of copper production per year for the year 2028. Before concluding the mining division highlights, I would like to share with you a couple of quick remarks on the current copper market. For the third quarter of 2021, the LME copper price increased from an average of $2.96 per pound seen during the third quarter 2020 to an average of $4.35 per pound, an increase of over 23%. Today, we are seeing copper prices at about $4.50, topping the year-to-date average price of $4.20 per pound, implying a positive outlook for the company. We believe the following factors are influencing the market.
We are seeing a strong demand in the U.S. and Europe, particularly in terms of captive consumption. China is expecting a notable reduction in scrap imports. Uncertainty regarding future production growth in Chile and Peru, which together represent about 40% of the world supply, 28% and 12% respectively. The combined inventories of the LME, COMEX, Shanghai, and London warehouses remain at relatively low levels, falling from 907,000 tons in June to only 569,000 tons by the end of September, a 37% reduction. The most relevant market intelligence for the copper market are expecting a market deficit of about 300,000 tons this year due to a recovery in demand. If you happen to have any follow-up questions, we will be pleased to address them during the Q&A session.
I would like to close by reinforcing our full support to the communities where we operate and all our collaborators. Now, please, Leonardo Contreras on our transportation division. Thank you.
Thank you, Xavier, and good afternoon, everyone. For the Transportation division on slide 16, I would like to talk about our financial highlights for the third quarter that reflects a strong rebound from prior year and an excellent performance and recovery from the pandemic period. First, I'm glad to announce that most segments showed positive variations in revenues, car loads, and net ton kilometers. Revenues are MXN 655 million for the quarter, increasing 1.7% quarter-over-quarter and 22% year-over-year. The quarterly increase was mainly driven by higher transported volume, led by the agricultural segment, which increased 994 million ton kilometers. On a cumulative basis, revenues are up 17% versus 2020.
Following the growth trend, our volume and car loads increased 14.3% and 9.3% respectively for the same period of the last year, and 11.1% and 10.2% on a cumulative basis. EBITDA is $293 million, a 23.4% increase versus third quarter 2020, resulting in an EBITDA margin of 44.7%, an expansion of 50 basis points. Cumulative EBITDA reached $850 million, a 19.6% increase. Net income is $27 million, an increase of 45.8% year-over-year, and 33.8% on a cumulative basis. As we move forward to slide 17, we have the main highlights for the quarter.
In most of our business units, volumes have returned strong than pre-COVID levels, leading to our record revenues, 10.4% increase in mexican peso year-over-year, thanks to market share volume gain. Our EBITDA reached MXN 5,873 million , an increase of 11.5% when compared to the same quarter of last year. A MXN 0.50 per share dividend was approved by the board, up from MXN 0.10 authorized in the second quarter. Continuing with the main variation on our revenues on slide 18. All our segments revenue growth during quarter, except automobile segment decreasing 2% due to the global microchip shortage, which continue impacting manufacturers worldwide.
The quarter top performance was the metal segment, which increased 62% due to higher volumes of raw materials and finished goods in Mexico, market share gains, and a consumption recovery in Mexico. The other segments with double digits revenue growth were cement for the higher Mexico exports due to the U.S. construction recovery. Industrial, due to market share gains in consumption products. Agricultural, with increases in shuttle trains import volumes. Minerals, due to reactivate iron ore imports and operating efficiencies. And intermodal, where demand and market share gains in the U.S. continue to grow while Mexico recovers from pre-COVID levels. With medium growth, we have the energy segment increasing 7% due to increase in fuel oil exports.
Chemicals with the same increase of 7% due to increase in volumes of basic chemicals and Mexico imports of plastic resins. In some segments, including cement, industrials, and intermodal goods, we are capped in capacity due to our fleet was completely utilized, even though the results show the aggressiveness toward gaining market. In intermodal, especially in Florida, we have faced labor shortage for intermodal terminals, including crane operators, first and last mile delivery drivers. As the volume coming back strong, we are focused to increase crews to continue gaining market share. On slide 19, please. We show our operating metrics of the second quarter since 2019.
We can see that most of our indicators show overall progress since then, thanks to our efforts to optimize our service master plan. Average train speed dropped 7% during the quarter, basically due to hurricanes and storms. There was excess rain in the Pacific and Central Mexico, and even though it did not cause the network to stop. Dwell time increases from 21 hours to 28 hours. This is explained by two factors. First, the operating master plan increased the dwell time target to allow to run longer trains more efficiently in terms of horsepower utilization. Additionally, the impact of the storms, capacity constraints, and congestions in Florida intermodal terminals. We expect dwell time back to our target levels of around 24 hours.
Car velocity dropped as a result of the combination of average train speed and dwell time. Average train length improved 4% and gross ton and gross ton per train improved by roughly 7%. The crew starts increased 2.8% considering a double-digit volume growth, which means we are running longer and heavier trains. Regarding CapEx for 2021, we anticipate to be able to invest roughly $290 million, 64% of the $450 million total planned. The CapEx estimated for 2022, we expect to invest around $450 million, where $294 million will be invested in maintenance projects such as a new rail, ties, and locomotive overhauls. $119 million will be invested in growth projects such as an intermodal terminus to increase loading and unloading capacity.
Our Monterrey and Celaya bypasses. While $36 million will be invested in efficiency programs, including LNG locomotive conversion plan. This conclude the general overview of the Transportation division. I will now let Francisco Zinser comment on the Infrastructure division. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Leonardo, and good afternoon, everyone. I'll start by going through the financial highlights of the Infrastructure division on slide number 22. Our revenues for the quarter totaled $138 million, a 6.8% increase when compared to the same quarter of 2020. This increase was mainly driven by our energy and toll road business units, demonstrating once again the performance of their business models. Year-to-date revenues totaled $410 million, a 4.7% increase compared to 2020, despite complicated ongoing circumstances due to COVID-19 and regulatory changes.
Our EBITDA totaled $56 million for the quarter and $174 million on a cumulative basis, which translates to a 6% decrease versus the third quarter of 2020 and a 14.5% reduction when compared to the first nine months of 2020 and 2021. This reduction was due to the adjustments in Perforadora's tariffs, a few projects that started later than expected in Constructora, in the construction business, and lower foreign exchange gains. The EBITDA margin for the quarter was 40.8%, and our cumulative net income totaled $24.3 million and showed net positive results for the third quarter in a row. As we continue on slide 23, I will go through the most relevant events of the division and a brief project update.
In our energy business unit, accumulated sales totaled $225 million, an increase of 34% versus last year. This was mainly driven by an increase in the price of natural gas and better operational performance and wind factor at El Retiro Wind Farm. The business unit cumulative EBITDA totaled $86.2 million. This represents an EBITDA margin of 38.3%. Our toll road business unit finished the first nine months of the year with $30.4 million in revenues and an EBITDA of $19.9 million, a 24% and 13% increase year-over-year, respectively, and basically level with pre-COVID numbers. These recoveries were achieved mainly due to the easing of mobility restrictions, which led to a 14% increase in daily traffic when compared to 2020.
Continuing with our main project updates, our 168-MW wind farm, Fenicias, located in Nuevo León, has already been completed, generating over 129,000 MWh from March 16 to September 30th, 2021. This wind farm will supply electric power to IMMSA, the underground mining division, and the metallurgical operations of the same business unit. The construction of the Maya Train has started while the preliminary studies of topography, geotechniques, and repair work of a geothermal fault are completed. The rail stockpiling started. We also started with road striping works and the adaptation of the central lane, and everything is on schedule with respect to the programmed progress. This concludes the Infrastructure division highlights. Now, I will let Marlene proceed with her closing remarks. Thank you.
Thank you, Xavier, Leonardo, Francisco, for your comments, and thank you again for your time. Now, we will open the line for questions and answers.
As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star one on your telephones. To withdraw your question, press the pound key. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from the line of Carlos de Alba from Morgan Stanley. Your line is now open.
Yeah, hello. Good morning, Marlene and gentlemen. The first question is if you could remind us or tell us what the cash costs for ASARCO before and after by-products in the quarter was. The second question I have is on the expected production for this year and for the coming years of ASARCO. Finally, if you could please comment on the impact or the potential impact of the proposed energy reform in Mexico on the different businesses of the Infrastructure division, like energy business, the fuel division or the fuel business that you are also investing on. Thank you very much.
Good morning, Carlos. This is Leonardo Contreras. In regards to your question about the cash costs for the quarter for ASARCO, before by-product, the cash cost was $2.45.
That's about perhaps 234. Your follow-up question in regards to the guidance in production for 2022, we should be around 125,000 tons. That's our goal.
Sorry, yeah. Sorry, that was for 2022? Or 2021?
If you would like the guidance for 2021, it would be around 126.
Okay. 126 and 125. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Carlos. This is Francisco regarding your last two questions. About the energy reform, as you know, it is still a proposal that is being discussed. As you know as well, the assets that we have in the energy division are under the self-supply scheme. An important difference is that we are under what is called an authentic or true self-supply scheme, where we own 100% of the generating assets, the wind farms and the combined-cycle power plant, and also 100% of the demands of the mining division. They are all under the same group and control group. We are optimistic that this reform will differentiate between these two schemes and we will be able to continue operating.
We are closely following the changes that this law could have. As you know, the current party does not control all the necessary votes to do the changes. We expect some changes to be made, including hopefully these ones and separating these two self-supply scheme from other schemes that are more assimilative. Regarding your second question about the fuel storage terminals, as you know as well, there have been some recent changes in the regulation, which we continue to monitor. We are being very close to these changes and analyzing with a lot of detail how they could impact us and being very prudent in our capital allocation until we have certainty of exactly how the rules are going to be played out.
We will keep you posted, but we have been, you know, slowing down the development until we have more certainty on how things are going to play out.
That makes sense. Thank you, Francisco. If I may, another question on the energy division. What was the energy generation in total in megawatt-hours that you guys did achieve in the third quarter?
In the third quarter itself, let me just check that. If you want, if it's okay, if we can continue and I will look up for the specific data, and I will reply to you in a minute.
Yeah, that makes sense. Thank you.
We will give you that information, Carlos, but we can continue with other questions, and we will give you the information before we end the call.
Thank you.
With the next question. Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Isabella Vasconcelos from Bradesco BBI. Your line is now open.
Thank you. Good morning, afternoon, to all. I have a couple of questions. The first one on capital allocation. Of course, you have a very robust cash position. I was wondering if, you know, the idea is to really continue to ramp up dividend payments or whether the group sees opportunities for M&A in their already operating segments or if you are considering potentially entering new segments as well. The second question, I'm sorry if I've missed it, but on the transportation division, do you already have any guidance in terms of revenue volume growth in 2022? Those are my questions. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Isabella. Regarding your first question of capital allocation, dividend generating growth, as you know, our number one priority and focus is always to invest in our growth. Afterwards, we don't wanna hoard cash or sit on a big stockpile of cash. That's why we have been increasing the business as we generate more cash flow. That doesn't mean our number one priority is not our CapEx and our growth in the pipeline that we have. At the same time, we keep an eye open to all the M&A opportunities at the different divisions and at the different levels. This is something that we are looking constantly. We have very strong team in terms of M&A.
If we see a good opportunity, we could be participating as well, if it makes sense with the assets that we have and a good valuation. We are always looking to new opportunities that make sense. In the meanwhile, we will keep on investing. We have a very strong pipeline of projects, as Xavier was mentioning, in the mining division as well as transportation. We keep on investing to improve our operating metrics and infrastructure as well. We will keep on investing in our CapEx. We have also exploration projects in the mining division in Ecuador, in Peru, Mexico, the U.S., but also in Ecuador and Argentina and Chile.
We continue investing in exploration as well to keep on growing our pipeline. That's interesting. In the meanwhile, as I was mentioning, we feel comfortable at these current levels of debt, so that's why we have been increasing the dividends of [Southern Copper] and GMXT. In [inaudible], we have the highest dividend yield within the Mexican companies. This should continue as we generate more cash flow.
Depending on.
On the GMXT guidance, Isabella, we have a guidance for 2022 of volume growth from 5%-7%, and on revenue growth from 10%-12%. This implies a CapEx of $450 million for next year.
That's very clear, Marlene. Thank you so much. Go ahead.
Thank you, Isabella.
No, I just wanted to get a very quick follow-up. Sorry, Marlene. Just to make sure that I got it right. You mentioned that you're also working on exploration in Argentina and mining explorations in Argentina, Chile, and Ecuador. Is that right?
Yes, that is correct.
Okay, great. Thank you.
Yes. Yes. We have in Ecuador, in the current system, copper and gold. We have finished already with the exploration, and we are in the process of doing the feasibility study to start next year with agreement with the government to start with the for this project. In Argentina, we have in Río Negro, two projects for gold and silver with good grade of gold and silver, as well as a copper deposit that we are exploring, it's called Estrella. In Chile, we are continuing with our exploration program in the area of Montemeros. That's what we have.
Sorry, this is Francisco Zinser. Carlos, I have the answer that you requested. The generation for the third quarter in our combined-cycle power plant was 841 GWh. That's only in the third quarter and accumulated on a yearly basis is 2,429 GWh.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Jon Brandt from HSBC. Your line is now open.
Hi. Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. The first question is on the mining division, as it relates to Michiquillay. With the approval of the environmental impact study, did that come earlier than expected? I guess if you could sort of elaborate on, you know, next steps and the possibility of potentially bringing this project forward and starting before 2028, that'll be great. The second question on the transportation assets, if you could just. You know, I know when there's a fuel cost pass-through, but I'm wondering if that also applies to the natural gas prices, where you use natural gas for some of your locomotives.
If that has changed, you know, the increase that we've seen in natural gas prices, has that changed the competitiveness of rail assets versus trucks? Then, you know, just staying on the transportation side of things, you know, the Kansas City Canadian Pacific deal, I guess as it relates to your M&A, would you consider some sort of partnership, some sort of agreement with a U.S. or Canadian rail line, in order to mimic what they're doing? Thank you.
Thank you, Jon Brandt. I think Raul will comment on this. Yes.
Yes. Thank you, Marlene. Well, no, the environmental impact assessment that we have received for the Michiquillay project, it's basically on time. This is a first study that we have to conduct in order to initiate exploration. We presented all the proper documentation at the beginning of this year in February, and it was approved as the government usually does or the agencies of the government usually does in that timeframe. For the following steps, well, the exploration program that should last about two years.
After that, once we understand well the deposit and how we will address the issue through the feasibility study of understanding what kind of facility we should build in Michiquillay in order to maximize the value of this deposit over time. After that, we will present all the paperwork for the environmental impact assessment. If there are ahead of us at least four years of work regarding Michiquillay to begin the construction of the project.
For the second part of the question in relation with the fuel surcharge, we don't have a fuel surcharge for LNG price variation. We never gonna use 100% LNG in our operations. We always have to use a combination of diesel and LNG. Even that we don't have the fuel surcharge for LNG. We have another very convenient benefit to have this flexibility in terms of using LNG or diesel. No, but I don't know if that clarified your question.
You can use either diesel or LNG in the locomotive. If you don't have the LNG pass through, does it financially make more sense for you to use diesel? Which do you have the fuel pass through?
Remember that the fuel pass through is just only for variation in the price. If we are having a very high flexibility between the price of fuel and the price of LNG that permit us to continue having financial benefits when we use LNG in our operations.
Okay. Thank you. Makes sense.
Thank you. All right.
Jon, I think you had another question regarding M&A, if I'm not mistaken, no? I'm sorry. Well, let us go with Alfonso, and if Jon has any other question, we will return to that.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Alfonso Salazar from Scotiabank. Your line is now open.
Thank you, and good day, everyone. I have a couple questions. The first one is regarding ASARCO. You mentioned that the cash cost is around $2.5 per pound, but also there is $0.11 of byproducts. Can you remind us what products, what it is related to? Is it silver, zinc? If I'm not mistaken, you have Silver Bell which is only SX-EW. You have the Mission mine and the Ray mine. In which of these are these by-products coming from? Also regarding ASARCO, any comments on potential expansion at Ray? Something that probably has been asked several times, but if you can mention anything regarding that front. Finally, just one clarification on the electricity reform.
If I'm not mistaken, as it stands and as it was proposed, it says that they want to cancel all contracts between self-supply and only the Federal Commission can sell electricity. Should I understand that you expect this to be relaxed then? Is that your base case, based on your comments? Thank you.
Good morning, Alfonso. This is Leonardo. In regards to your first question about byproducts of ASARCO, the main byproduct of ASARCO is silver. In addition to that, what we have is some moly sales we do at the Amarillo in our rod plant. That would be the other byproducts. In regards to the expansion or the potential in ASARCO, at the moment, we're foreseeing an expansion at the Ray Mine. However, we're still in very preliminary phases, as well as we're also envisioning a potential project. At the moment, I do think that it's very preliminary and it's probably not worth to take our time into that.
Alfonso, this is Francisco. Regarding your last question about what they want to do with the electricity reform, we have read it very carefully. Your appreciation is correct in the fact that in some of the articles or instances included in the reform, they mentioned that CFE will be buying the power from all the private producers and then selling it to the consumers. However, if you read it carefully, and I think that's part of the discussion that is currently happening, there are other parts in the reforms that do differentiate between the simulation and the true self-supply. It's one of the questions that is currently being discussed right now.
My comment was that we are optimistic that the self-supply scheme under the authentic option that I described before will continue as it is right now. In fact, we have had some preliminary conversations with some of the relevant stakeholders making the decision, and we have had confirmation that that is the true spirit of the self-supply scheme. It's something that will still need to be discussed and confirmed hopefully in the following weeks.
Right. In any case, it needs to be approved by Congress.
Yes.
Become.
By Congress and then by the different congresses of the different states.
Yeah.
There's still a long way to go. We believe, you know, based on the amount of votes that are needed, that there will be some negotiation, and this is hopefully one of the things that will be softened.
Thank you. Thank you very much for the clarification.
Sure.
Thank you. At this time, I am showing no further questions. I would like to turn the call back over to Marlene Finny for closing remarks.
Well, thank you so much. I hope this clarifies some of your concerns. In case you need anything else, please let us know. We'll keep in touch and hopefully to hear you again on the next quarter. Just one-
Sorry.
Francisco.
Sorry to complement my previous answer, but something that I think it's worth clarifying. All the offtakers that we have for electricity have a contract with CFE. Regardless of whatever happens in the infrastructure division, and again, we're optimistic, the supply of power to the different mines that we have is guaranteed either through us or through CFE. I think it's an important and relevant thing to clarify for everyone.
Thank you. Thank you, everybody.
This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.