Sociedad Española de Construcciones Electromecánicas (abbreviated as SECEM), colloquially known as "electro", was a Spanish company in the non-ferrous metals industry that operated between 1917 and 1978. Throughout its existence it was one of the most important Spanish companies in the copper sector, having its main activity in Córdoba. Among its products were copper products, brass, electrical transformers, etc.
History
The company was founded on June 15, 1917, with Spanish-French financial support, with a capital stock of 25 million pesetas. It was born in the context of a boom in Spanish industry, in the heat of the First World War. Two foreign capital companies were involved in its creation, the Sociedad Minera y Metalúrgica de Peñarroya (SMMP) and the Rio Tinto Company Limited (RTC), both of which became shareholders of the new company.[1] The SECEM owned an important plant in Cordoba dedicated to copper metallurgy, brass production, manufacture of motors and electric transformers, etc. Over the years it ended up becoming one of the main companies in the sector, having also a great importance in the local context of Cordoba.
The company came to manufacture nearly 40% of all the electrolytic copper produced in Spain, being supplied to a large extent by the material coming from the Rio Tinto-Nerva mining basin