Production of copper in Peru is forecast to surge by 2016, according to a published report.
Mining project programs amounting to as much as $15 billion are presently in operation, Energy and Mines Minister Jorge Merino Tafur said, MineWeb reports. Production is likely to rise 1.3 million tons to amount to 2.8 million tons in three years.
The Wall Street Journal reports a Peruvian mine owned by Glencore Xstrata is on the wish list of Chinalco Mining Corp. International, a China-based company. The firm was edging toward tapping Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group to serve as advisors for that purchase. The deal is forecast to be worth as much as $5 billion.
The projects are slated to kick off sometime between next year and the first half of 2015, the minister said. For that reason, the government is aiming to cut the timeframe for issuing new exploration permits to less than 200 days. That would represent the most rapid schedule yet for South and Central America.
“The permits took between 300 and 500 days, but with the rule that were are issuing this period is down to less than 200 days,” the minister said, indicating that the country he leads ultimately will spearhead its Latino peers’ rapid production of permits for exploratory mining.
He said that Peru is working to maintain its competitive edge for mining for two reasons. In addition to having large amounts of mineral deposits, the nation also holds energy that is significantly cheaper than that of Chile, its southerly neighbor.
This past April, Glencore was amenable to selling Las Bambas under the stipulation that China would issue regulatory approval for merging with Xstrata. Chinalco is the copper arm of Aluminum Corporation of China, which is the Asian nation’s biggest producer of aluminum and alumina.
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