Southern Copper’s nearly finished expansion of Toquepala mine and suspended Tia Maria project, are the two main cards Peru has up its sleeve to reclaim its place as the world’s second largest copper producer.
The South American nation was pushed out of its second-place spot by China in 2012.
"This project (Toquepala) in Tacna along with Tía María in Arequipa represent a total investment of US$2 billion and will help Peru to become the world's second producer of copper again", Guillermo Shinno, Vice Minister of Energy and Mines said.
Currently China’s output stands at about 1,600 tonnes per year, well below the nearly 5,800 annual tonnes produced by Chile, the world’s leader.
Tia Maria has been suspended since 2011, as it faces opposition from nearby communities concerned about the use of water. But the company held a public hearing for the project late last year, after which it said it was submitting a revised environmental impact study, which it expected to be approved by June 2014.
Peru’s government is also counting on Chinalco's US$3.5bn Toromocho copper mine, which began production in December, as well as the recently acquired Las Bambas massive copper mine to up the country’s output of the red metal,
mining.com reported.
According to MEM, copper production in the Andean country is expected to grow 17% to 2 million tones this year.
(END) INT/DLG
Published: 4/20/2014