SSCCOSouthern Copper Corporation

Southern Copper mines copper in Peru and Mexico — a direct bet on the metal without which neither grids nor electric cars get built.

Results are set by the copper price, which the company does not control, and by mining cost, which it does. Its mines are among the world's lowest-cost per tonne, and that is what keeps it profitable at the bottom of the price cycle when competitors move into loss.

Copper demand grows structurally: transport electrification, grids and renewable generation need more of it than the old economy did. Supply meanwhile grows slowly — a new mine takes a decade to build and requires local consent that is increasingly hard to obtain.

Hence specific risks: politics in Peru and Mexico, protests around deposits, changes to mining taxation. The company pays high dividends whose size follows the metal price directly, so the payout here is variable in substance.