The Peruvian mining industry will invest $56.1bn to develop 46 mining projects of copper and iron ore across the country in the next eight years, according to the Ministry of Energy and Mines (Minem).
Copper
The industry will use $38bn to fund 25 copper projects, which represents 67.7pc of the total investment. Among them, Ampliación Toromocho project will produce 75,000mt fines of copper per year, while Mina Justa will annually produce 181,000mt and Quellaveco will produce 300,000mt of copper fines in a year, Minem said.
Iron Ore
Three iron ore projects will have an investment of $5.2bn. Pampa de Pongo will have an annual capacity of 22.5mn mt, Hierro Apurímac will produce 20mn mt per year, and the Ampliación Shouxin project will produce 400,000mt of iron ore per year.
The country is also planning on investing $1.6bn to develop six zinc mines. In 2021-2025, the industry will invest $11.74bn to develop 13 mining projects. In 2021 alone, an investment of $3.57bn is earmarked for develop Ampliación Shouxin, Chalcobamba Phase 1, Corani, Optimización Inmaculada, Pampacancha, San Gabriel and Yanacochoa Sulfuros.
Peru’s copper production rose by 1.4pc to 207,034mt in October this year, from 204,139mt last year. Iron ore output increased by 23.7pc to 1.09mn mt from 883,233mt in the same period.