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Peru minister sees $12-bil mining investment over five years
Platts
Lima
Petroleumworld.com 02 23 06Peru expects mining sector investment of some $12-billion over the next
five years, Minister of Energy and Mines Juan Valdivia said Thursday.
"The National Mining Society (SNMPE) has announced $10 billion in investment for
the (mining) projects underway," Valdivia said in a meeting with the foreign
press
. "However, we have other information which includes mid-sized projects
that have not been quantified by the SNMPE. For this reason, I told them that
investment (in the mining sector) in the next five years will surpass $12
billion."Overall investment for the mining, energy and electricity sectors will
surpass $23 billion in the same period, Valdivia said. Peru a major world
producer of several base and precious metals has a portfolio of major copper
and gold projects in the pipeline, although many will require feasibility
studies before they can go forward.One of those projects is the state-owned Michiquillay copper project,
expected to require an investment of around $1-billion. Valdivia said some 20
companies have obtained information about the project, including Chinese,
Japanese and Korean companies that have not previously invested in Peru.He said the auction date for Michiquillay has been delayed until April 30
due to a police investigation of illegal chemicals found last month during a
raid on the camp, where squatters had settled.Regarding production in the sector, Vice Minister of Mines Rosario
Padilla said the ministry's estimates for copper production this year coincide
with those of the SNMPE, which has projected 10% growth to 1.15 million mt
based on new production from Cerro Verde's primary sulfides project. She
added, however, "it may be even higher due to production from other projects."Padilla said that the outlook for zinc, silver and tin was also positive
this year, although she did not provide specific projections. Zinc and silver
production rose 7.1% and 8.3% respectively in 2006. Tin mine production fell
8.7% last year, although production of refined tin rose 10.2%. Padilla was
less optimistic about gold, whose production fell 2.28% last year on lower
output by Peru's top producer Minera Yanacocha. Yanacocha has said it will
produce 1.65-mil oz this year after churning out 1.7-mil oz in 2006.--Mary Powers, newsdesk@platts.com
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Platts 22 GMT 02 07
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