ASARCO Reorganizes Commercial Department; Names Five Directors.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 12, 1997--ASARCO Incorporated (NYSE:AR) has reorganized its commercial department along product lines and named five directors to head the newly formed groups, according to William L. (Gus) Paul, vice president, commercial.

Paul said Asarco's Commercial department formerly was structured by function, the result of an earlier amalgamation of independent units. The new organization includes groups dedicated to the commercial management of copper, lead and zinc, and specialty products as well as a trading and risk management group and a national transportation group.

Each of the product groups will include staff personnel dedicated to obtaining raw materials, product sales and logistics for managing the day-to-day movements of the specific products.

Named directors of the five units are:

-- Robert J. Bothwell, Jr., commercial director, copper;

-- Edward J. Melando, commercial director, lead/zinc;

-- Gerard (Jerry) P. Gillen, commercial director, specialty products;

-- Alan S. Kafka, director, trading and risk management, and

-- David C. Brotherton, director, national transportation. Implementation of the new organization is effective October 1, 1997. Robert J. Bothwell, Jr., the new director of the copper commercial group, has been director of base metals and specialty metals sales for Asarco since 1994. A native of Philadelphia, PA., Bothwell was educated at Villanova University where he received a bachelor of engineering degree in 1960. He joined Asarco in 1967 as a salesman of the Company's primary nonferrous metals and has held various marketing management posts since. He and his wife, Georgiann, live in Greenwich, CT. They have six sons.

Edward J. Melando, the new director of the lead/zinc commercial group, has been assistant controller for Asarco since 1990. He joined Asarco as an SEC specialist in 1983 and served as federal tax manager from 1987 to 1990. He is a certified public accountant and received a bachelor of science degree from Kean College in 1980. He and his wife, Jeanette, and two daughters live in Woodridge, New Jersey.

Gerard P. Gillen was national sales manager for sulfuric acid before being named to his new post, director, specialty products. Prior to joining Asarco in 1987 in the sulfuric acid position, he was senior marketing manager with Church & Dwight and had a variety of sales and marketing jobs with Allied Signal Inc. Gillen earned a business administration degree from Manhattan College. He and his wife, June, live in Tucson, Arizona. They have a daughter and two sons.

Alan S. Kafka continues as director of trading and risk management, a post he's held since 1992. He joined Asarco's Central Research Department as a metallurgist in 1964 and transferred into sales in 1973. Kafka received his bachelor of science degree in metallurgical engineering from Lafayette College and master of science in metallurgy from Stevens Institute of Technology. He and his wife, Patricia, are parents of a son and two daughters and reside in Warren, New Jersey.

David C. Brotherton, the new director of national transportation, was director of traffic for Asarco before the reorganization. He joined Asarco as a senior rate analyst in St. Louis in 1980 and held various posts in the Traffic Department before becoming director. He has a bachelor of science degree from Southeast Missouri State University and attended Washington University. He and his wife, Beth, have two children and live in Westfield, New Jersey.

ASARCO Incorporated is one of the world's leading integrated producers of nonferrous metals, principally copper, lead, zinc, silver and molybdenum. Asarco also produces specialty chemicals and aggregates. Asarco had 1996 sales of $2.7 billion.

CONTACT: ASARCO Incorporated, New York 

Jerry Cooper, Corporate Communications

212-510-1810