PERU

Cerro Verde pays $245m tax debt ‘under protest’
Reuters | August 13, 2021 |

Freeport McMoran’s Cerro Verde copper mine. (Image courtesy of Huella Minera)

Peruvian copper miner Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde said on Friday in a securities filing that it had paid “under protest” a tax debt of 1 billion soles ($245.52 million), as the amount continues to be the subject of an arbitration dispute.


Peru’s tax authority has longstanding disputes with several miners regarding tax calculations.

Peru, the world’s No. 2 copper producer, is highly dependent on mining to finance public spending. Newly inaugurated leftist President Pedro Castillo has said he wants to extract higher taxes from miners, especially at a time of high international prices.

Cerro Verde is the second large Peruvian miner to pay a tax debt that remains under dispute in recent weeks.

Last month, Compania de Minas Buenaventura paid a debt worth 2.1 billion soles ($515.59 million).

Still, Bueaventura’s chairman, Roque Benavides, said in an interview with Bloomberg Linea that they were hoping to recover those funds once the tax dispute was finalized, which they said they would win.

Cerro Verde is controlled by Freeport-McMoRan Corp , while Buenaventura holds a minority stake.

($1 = 4.0730 soles)

(By Marcelo Rochabrun; Editing by David Gregorio)