PROVISIONALLY PRICED SALES: (Details)	Jun. 30, 2013 lb
Copper \| July 2013
Provisionally priced sales
Nonmonetary notional amount of commodity (in million lbs.)	9,900,000
Provisional price	3.06
Molybdenum \| July through September 2013
Provisionally priced sales
Nonmonetary notional amount of commodity (in million lbs.)	8,800,000
Provisional price	10.28

Aggregate notional amount of provisionally priced sales agreements with notional amounts expressed in nonmonetary units.

No definition available.

Name:	scco_NonmonetaryNotionalAmountOfProvisionallyPricedSalesAgreements
Namespace Prefix:	scco_
Data Type:	num:massItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant