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LIMA, Peru — Phoenix-based Southern Copper Corp. said it plans to fire all the striking workers at its Cananea mine in Mexico and rehire them with a new labor agreement.

Workers at Cananea, Sonora, about 90 miles southeast of Tucson, have been on strike since last July 30. Southern Copper, controlled by Grupo Mexico SAB, closed the mine April 11, offering 1,300 workers a severance package after the National Mining and Metal Workers Union refused to recognize a ruling by a Mexican labor court in January calling the strike illegal.

Chief Financial Officer Genaro Guerrero Diaz Mercado said Southern Copper is working with the government and the union to reopen the mine, Guerrero said.

"The company's plan is to terminate all the workers and rehire them with a new labor agreement," he said. "But it's hard to set a date when this may happen."

Southern Copper on Thursday said second-quarter profit fell 24.4 percent, to $548.5 million, or 62 cents a share, from $726 million, or 82 cents, a year earlier.

Southern was expected to earn 66 cents a share, the average estimate of seven analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Sales fell 20 percent to $1.46 billion.

"Diesel and power costs have led to a 20 percent increase in costs per ton of ore mined," Guerrero said Friday on a conference call with analysts. He also cited electricity costs, adding, "We're working on ways to offset rising costs at our operations."

Southern Copper may buy power from a 600-megawatt coal-fired power station in Mexico and gas-fired projects in Peru, he said. Diesel prices have surged following a 63 percent rise in crude oil in the past year.

The company's copper output fell 25 percent to 245,112 metric tons in the first six months of this year, and production will be about the same in the second half, Guerrero said. It would be the fourth annual production drop for Southern Copper, which last year produced 592,182 tons of the metal.

The company also plans to produce 103,000 tons of zinc and 16,000 tons of molybdenum in 2008, Guerrero said.

Southern Copper shares rose Friday for the first time in four days, gaining 76 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $28.26 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have dropped 19 percent this year.

Copper prices will remain "strong" amid surging Chinese demand in the second half of the year, Guerrero said. Copper for September delivery rose about 2 cents to close at $3.7040 a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.