Copper Producer’s All-Male Board Is Spotlighted by Proxy Firm

(Bloomberg) -- A proxy advisory firm for financial institutions such as hedge funds is taking issue with one of the world’s top copper producers for its lack of gender diversity in the board room.

Institutional Shareholder Services is recommending that shareholders withhold their support from the entire board of Southern Copper Corp. at its annual general meeting Friday.

ISS cites a lack of independence and gender diversity on the board, according to a letter from the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. Southern Copper has an all-male board, according to its website.

The Grupo Mexico-owned company, which didn’t respond to a request for comment, isn’t alone among Latin American miners in lacking a female presence in the board room. Chile’s Codelco, the world’s biggest copper producer, doesn’t have any women directors either. By comparison, the board of London-based Rio Tinto Group is one third female.

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