Investments in Peru’s mining industry rose 22.4pc in 2019 from a year earlier, reaching $6bn and representing the third consecutive year of growth.
Investment in the industry amounted to $4.9bn in 2018 and $3.9bn a year earlier, Peru’s Ministry of Energy and Mines (Minem) said in a statement.
The industry is presently working on the construction of five major mining projects, including the Mina Justa mine that is expected to produce 149,000mt of copper concentrates and 58,000mt of copper cathodes annually. A venture between Marcobre, Minsur, and Empresas Copec subsidiary Alxar, the mine is slated to become operational this year.
Another major mining project is Toromocho that is likely to process 157,000mt of copper concentrates daily; its annual refined copper output will be 300,000mt. The project, expected to be operational this year, contains 1.526bn mt of ore and has an average daily copper content of 0.48pc, according to Chinalco’s local unit Minera Chinalco Peru.
Annually, the Ariana mining project will produce 70,000mt of copper concentrates, 300,000 metric ounces of silver, and 10,000mt of zinc. While the Quellaveco project will produce 300,000mt of copper per annum, the Ampliación Santa María project is already producing 800 tonnes per day, according to data from the media outlet,
Mining is one of Peru’s most important economic activities, representing 9pc of its GDP and 60pc of its exports. Copper and gold are the most important metals exported by value.