It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
The global copper market enjoyed one of its best years in 2025. The threat of US tariffs on the industrial metal and its elevated status as a critical mineral, together with major supply disruptions globally, all played a part to help to lift prices 40% last year.
That run extended into 2026, as expectations of surging AI-driven demand and persistent supply constraints drove prices to a record of $14,500 a tonne in January. This week, copper is nearing another record.
The prospect of higher mining costs due to rising energy prices and a shortage of sulfuric acid, which is used in a fifth of the global copper production, is considered the next big catalyst for copper prices, a Sprott analyst recently said.
Goldman Sachs is also optimistic of copper surging higher again, due to the supply-side disruptions. The International Copper Study Group recently outright abandoned its previous surplus projections, now forecasting a 150,000-tonne deficit for 2026.
The top 10 mines, many of which have been in production for decades (some even trace roots back to the late 1800s) are responsible for more than a fifth of total global mined production – producing 4.9 million tonnes in 2025.
And surprisingly, after only recently being surpassed by BHP as the world’s number one copper producer on an attributable basis, Chile’s state owned Codelco does not have any of its operations qualify for the top 10.
As last year amply showed disruption at these giant operations (like the Grasberg and Kamoa-Kakula accidents that saw 100s of thousands of tonnes taken off the market,) can have a big impact on copper prices.
1. Escondida
Escondida in Chile, a joint venture between BHP, Rio Tinto, Mitsubishi, and JX Advanced Metals holds the top spot, producing 1,347.6 kts of copper metal in 2025. Escondida has long ranked the world’s biggest copper mine, but BHP’s operational review for the nine months to March 31 pointed to record material mined and concentrator throughput.
Las Bambas mine in Peru, owned jointly by China’s MMG, CITIC and Pagoda Tree Investment Company, churned out 411.3 kts in 2025. The mine was plagued by protests in 2024, but protesters agreed to lift a road blockade on a key Peruvian transport route, and operations resumed in April 2025.
4. Buenavista
Southern Copper’s Buenavista mine in Mexico moves up in this year’s ranking to fourth place with 409.4 kts produced. Copper has been mined at the historic site, 22 miles south of the US border, since 1899.
5. Collahuasi
Chile’s Collahuasi mine, a joint venture between Glencore, Anglo American and Mitsui produced produced 404.1 kts. In April this year, contractors finished building a system that will carry water from the coastal town of Punta Patache to the Ujina deposit, more than 4,400 meters above sea level, as part of a $1 billion infrastructure improvement project.
Cerro Verde in Peru, a joint venture between Freeport-McMohRan, Sumitomo and Buenaventura takes seventh place, producing 391.5 kts. The Peruvian government first mined Cerro Verde’s oxide ores and built one of the world’s first SX/EW facilities in 1972.
8. Kamoa-Kakula
The Kamoa-Kakula complex in the Democratic Republic of Congo, owned jointly by Ivanhoe Mines, Zijin Mining, Crystal River and the DRC government drops from third place last year to seventh — it produced 385.8 kts. Ivanhoe halted operations for three weeks in 2025 after seismic activity severely flooded the underground mine. In April, Ivanhoe slashed near-term production guidance, citing a shift toward underground development, rehabilitation and access work that will constrain ore delivery over the next 18 to 24 months.
9. Antamina
Antamina in Peru, co-owned by BHP, Glencore, Teck and Mitsubishi, moves up to ninth from 10th place, producing 368 kts. Last year, Antamina’s operators forecasted an almost 20% boost in cooper output.
10. Oyu Tolgoi
Oyu Tolgoi, a joint venture between Rio Tinto and the Mongolian government, churned out 345.1 kts. The government, which holds a 34% stake through state-owned Erdenes Mongol LLC., this year demanded earlier profit payments and a larger share of revenue, reopening negotiations over the $18-billion project’s commercial terms.
Honorable mentions: Morenci in Arizona, USA (313,100 tonnes), Quellaveco in Peru (309,900 tonnes), Los Pelambres in Chile (295,400 tonnes)
CHART: First Quantum’s Peru project joins ranks of copper giants
First Quantum has completed 370,000 metres of drilling at La Granja. Image: First Quantum Minerals.
First Quantum Minerals (TSX: FM) has filed a new NI 43-101 technical report for its La Granja project in the Cajamarca region of northern Peru it holds with Rio Tinto, outlining one of the copper sector’s largest undeveloped deposits.
First Quantum, said according to La Granja’s (meaning “the farm”) updated mineral resource, the orebody contains 4.8 billion tonnes of measured and indicated resources grading 0.48% copper, equal to 23.0 million tonnes of contained copper.
A further 5.2 billion tonnes grading 0.40% copper sits in the inferred category, containing another 20.7 million tonnes of copper, setting La Granja up as a tier-1, multigenerational asset, in the words of the company.
That places La Granja second among undeveloped copper projects in terms of measured and indicated resources behind only Northern Dynasty’s Pebble in Alaska and when including operating assets, also behind Kamoa-Kakula, the Ivanhoe Mines complex in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
First Quantum acquired the majority stake for only $105 million and has since spent $70 million out of a committed $546 million to advance the project.
Engineering challenges
In an interview conducted last year, First Quantum CEO Tristan Pascall said while the La Granja deal “wasn’t up there in the deals in terms of dollars, in terms of copper in the ground is one of the largest deals done in the last 10, 20 years.”
“Rio Tinto saw in First Quantum a partner that could want a challenging project, because it’s challenging from an engineering perspective, and particularly around deleterious elements like arsenic,” Pascall said. “We had a development hypothesis that we went to Rio with, and really that revolved around dealing with the orebody in a different manner.”
First Quantum says the drillhole database for La Granja now consists of a whopping 832 diamond holes totalling a whopping 370,000 metres, with more planned. The deposit remains open at depth with further exploration targets, according to the company.
Last month, ahead of the latest mineral resource estimate, Pascal told a group of reporters during a tour of its Zambian mines the company has spent the last three years of drilling validating this hypothesis:
“Our view was that it [the arsenic] wasn’t disseminated, that it was discreet and we could package it. That means you have assayable concentrate through a conventional flow sheet, and you don’t need any exotics in order to deal with arsenic.”
La Granja in Peru. Image: First Quantum Minerals
Water and tailings
La Granja’s pit optimization was based on a copper-only cut-off using a $4.00 a pound copper price (versus today’s price of $6.65 per pound, or $14,450 a tonne). Silver, gold and molybdenum should provide by-product upside, which may well lure streaming companies.
Other challenges at La Granja (and most sites in the South American copper belt) include water and tailings management. Unlike many copper projects in the Andean belt, La Granja sits at a moderate elevation between 2,000m and 2,800m above sea level.
First Quantum plans to carry out comminution near the pit, then move material by pipeline through a 7 km access tunnel to a flatter, arid Pacific coastal plain about 100 km from the mine where processing and tailings management would be located.
First Quantum said primary water supply would come from desalinated seawater, with site contact water captured and reused in processing to reduce impacts on local environmental flows.
Next up for La Granja is permitting, and progressing baseline environmental and social studies and continuing community engagement – a process that would take several years under Peru’s strict Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) regulations.
A prior Peruvian government estimate put La Granja’s required investment at more than $2.4 billion. First Quantum is also advancing its Haquira project in the Apurímac region of southern Peru.
Annual output over the first 10 years at Taca Taca, which has qualified under Argentina’s fast-tracking program, is pegged at 291,000 tonnes of copper and 133,000 oz. of gold at cash costs of 97¢ per pound. Production over the mine’s life is projected at 209,000 tonnes of copper and 96,000 oz. gold at cash costs of $1.26 per pound.
Appian deepens Namibia push with $400M copper mine buy
Appian Capital Advisory has acquired Omico Copper in a deal giving the mining-focused private equity firm a 95% stake in Namibia’s Omitiomire copper project as it expands its exposure to a metal expected to face surging demand growth.
The mining-focused private equity firm plans to spend more than $400 million to develop Omitiomire into a mine producing about 30,000 tonnes of copper annually over a 15-year mine life, with first production targeted within three years.
The project, about 140 km northeast of Windhoek in Namibia’s Otjozondjupa Region, is considered one of the country’s most advanced undeveloped copper assets. Appian did not disclose the acquisition price for the asset, which was sold by Guernsey-based private equity fund Greenstone Resources LP and Australian mining company International Base Metals Ltd.
“Omico Copper is a technically robust development opportunity that aligns with Appian’s investment philosophy,” CEO Michael Scherb said in a statement. “The project complements our portfolio, offering near-term production alongside long-term growth potential.”
Scherb told Bloomberg News the firm could announce two more copper acquisitions before year-end involving projects at similar stages of development in South America, North Africa and southeastern Europe.
Mining investors are increasingly targeting copper assets amid expectations supply will struggle to meet rising demand from electric vehicles, renewable energy systems, power grids and AI infrastructure. S&P Global forecasts copper demand will climb 50% to more than 42 million tonnes by 2040 from 28 million tonnes last year.
The metal, crucial to electrification, is once again trading near a record high above $14,000 a tonne as a squeeze on Middle Eastern sulfur supplies threatens some operations, compounding disruptions at major mines elsewhere around the world.
Building a copper pipeline
Appian’s latest acquisition also builds on a broader strategy to expand its mining portfolio across Africa and Latin America. In October 2025, the firm established a $1 billion partnership with the International Finance Corp., the World Bank’s private-sector arm, to support mining investments in the regions.
The fund has already backed the development of an underground operation at the Santa Rita nickel mine in Brazil and the expansion of Asante Gold Corp.’s mines in Ghana, Scherb said. Namibia remains one of several “tier-one jurisdictions” where Appian is actively seeking investments alongside Morocco, Ivory Coast, Botswana and Zambia
The firm’s current portfolio includes operations producing about 480,000 ounces of gold annually, along with 55,000 tonnes of zinc and 19,000 tonnes of nickel.
Friday, December 08, 2023
Deadly attack spurs plea for Peru crackdown on unlicensed mines
Mining executives in Peru are imploring authorities to crack down on escalating violence by informal miners, which this weekend cost the lives of nine staff members of a large, legal gold mine.
“Formal mining is under attack,” Angela Grossheim, the head of industry group SNMPE and a former minister, told reporters Tuesday. “Illegal mining today is the country’s main illicit activity, even bigger than drug trafficking.
Over the weekend, workers in a shaft at a mine run by Cia. Minera Poderosa SA were ambushed by explosives, bringing the number of deaths in clashes with informal miners at Poderosa to 16 in the past two years. Peru is a major gold and copper supplier, with the two metals attracting more informal mines made more lucrative by high prices and new techniques.
Conflicts have extended to some of Peru’s sprawling copper deposits, including Southern Copper Corp.’s Los Chancas project and MMG Ltd.’s Las Bambas mine. Both have struggled to develop new pits in areas that have drawn informal miners. The Los Chancas mining camp was burned down last year.
The industry is laying part of the blame on temporary permits known in Peru as Reinfo, a registry that allows informal miners to operate with some legal protections while they formalize operations. But the registry has been open for a decade and many workers have remained in the system without formalizing.
“It’s time to put a stop to this mantle of impunity,” said Poderosa corporate affairs manager Pablo de la Flor. He added that Poderosa has been in conflict with informal miners who are part of the Reinfo registry.
Poderosa is calling on authorities to send in the army at a site where hundreds of additional police officers have been deployed. The Lima-based firm has hired an additional 1,200 security guards just in the past few months.
(By Marcelo Rochabrun)
Saturday, December 03, 2022
In Peru’s hills, an artisanal miner boom frustrates Big Copper’s plans
Reuters | December 1, 2022 | Las Bambas is considered the world’s ninth-largest copper mine with an output of about 400,000 tonnes of the industrial metal per year. (Image courtesy of MMG.)
In the hills of Tapairihua in Peru’s Andes, Samuel Retamozo and other artisanal miners have found a rich seam of copper on their indigenous community’s land. Armed with temporary government permits, they started exploiting it earlier this year.
There’s just one problem – the seam is within the site of Southern Copper Corp’s planned $2.6 billion Los Chancas mine. One of the world’s biggest copper miners, it also has a permit to dig in the same area.
Grupo Mexico’s Southern Copper aims to start producing here in 2027 after decades of studies. The planned mine is crucial to the company’s goal of producing 1.8 million tonnes of copper annually by 2030.
But the rise of artisanal copper mining – driven by high global metal prices and sustained by a messy government permitting system – is threatening billions in new investments by Southern Copper and others in Peru, according to Reuters reviews of internal company reports, interviews with executives and a visit to Tapairihua to meet the miners.
Small-scale copper miners are now challenging Big Copper for territorial control of rich deposits of the red metal. Artisanal copper mining is creating much-needed income for impoverished Andean Peruvians even as it brings them into conflict with major miners, a rare and previously unreported trend in the world’s No. 2 copper producer.
“This used to happen with silver and gold, but now it’s affecting copper,” said Raul Jacob, Southern Copper’s chief financial officer, bemoaning what the company sees as the government’s poor handling of artisanal mining permits.
In Peru, artisanal mining permits have doubled to 80,000 since 2020, government records show. And copper is the new focus.
Southern Copper is not the only mining company in a stand-off with the miners. Chinese-owned MMG Ltd’s nearby Las Bambas copper mine is struggling to develop two new open pits because of artisanal miners who have settled on the same land. The company says its current pit is running out.
“Informal mining is entering lands granted to formal (mining) companies and threatening the development of large-scale projects,” a source close to MMG told Reuters.
While companies often call small-scale miners “informal” or “illegal,” what complicates the matter are two dueling authorizations – one for artisanal mining and another to hold the mining rights to a given area. Mining companies own the latter, known as concessions.
But since 2012 Peru has been granting artisanal mining permits on lands that overlap with concessions, giving the small-scale miners some legal protection, Reuters found after checking the geolocations of the permits and reviewing an internal document in which Peru’s mining ministry did the same. Potential for more disputes
Disputes between mining firms and artisanal miners may only increase over time. Peru’s leftist administration presented a new framework for artisanal mining last week that declared artisanal mining is “as important” as big mining.
Southern Copper has asked the government to revoke all artisanal mining permits on its concession. About half have now been canceled, causing resentment in Tapairihua.
“We are going to defend ourselves. At the end of the day we are at home, and from home there is nowhere to go,” Retamozo, a mining engineer and president of the Tapairihua Mining Association, told Reuters.
While artisanal permits have existed since 2012, lower copper prices that decade meant they were not in demand. But copper has risen more than 60% since 2020 due to demand for electric vehicles.
The surge in artisanal copper mining is forcing the government to review its artisanal permitting system, a mechanism that was meant to be a temporary bridge toward formalization and intended mostly for gold miners.
“Our country is a mining country but we haven’t had until now a mining framework that gives a long-term view about small-scale mining,” Alberto Rojas, Peru’s top mining formalization official, told Reuters.
Rojas, however, suggested artisanal miners would lose in a dispute against concession holders.
“Where we have concessions we can’t have (artisanal mining permits),” Rojas said. “We can’t disavow the concessions that have already been granted.” Diggers, trucks
On a recent day in Tapairihua, Reuters visited the artisanal mining operations, where dozens of wood and blue tarpaulin homes were erected, and tunnels supported with wooden beams burrowed into the steep rocky hillside.
In Peru’s Andes many feel the copper under the ground is a right, with mining dating back to the Incas and other cultures that existed before Spain’s colonization. Tapairihua looks down onto the river Antabamba, meaning “copper plain” in the Andean Quechua language.
Many of the miners are also local subsistence farmers who took up mining in search of income. Many declined to be named because they have been sued by Southern Copper over their mining activities.
To extract copper, they use dynamite to explode rock that they bring out in wheelbarrows and bags. Miners earn 80 soles ($20.61) a day, extracting enough rock to fill a handful of trucks a week, usually containing around 5% copper, though this level can rise as high as 18%.
Gherson Quintanilla arrived in Tapairihua earlier this year with a background in artisanal gold mining. He came because he heard copper was abundant and expertise was low.
“My goal is to extract up to two truckloads a day,” he told Reuters.
But artisanal copper mining is not always as small scale.
An internal Las Bambas presentation seen by Reuters estimated informal miners were blasting some 1,950 tonnes of rock per day, almost double their output a year ago.
The report said artisanal miners were using heavy machinery and diggers as well as pneumatic tools.
Overall, it estimated the government has issued 700 permits that overlap with Las Bambas’s concession,
But removing those miners is not straightforward. While Las Bambas and Southern Copper hold mining rights – which grants them access to the mineral underground – in most cases they have yet to buy the property rights to the surface terrain.
That limits their options because they cannot file an eviction claim on land they do not own.
The source close to Las Bambas said MMG recognized this difficulty and anticipated it would have to buy out the miners if it wants them to leave the site of its third pit, set to open in 2027 – if there are no delays.
At the site of its second pit, which was supposed to open this year, Las Bambas has filed eviction claims against the miners there because it already owns that particular parcel of land. The company estimates almost a dozen mining sites in the area. Reuters was unable to determine the number of miners working in them. ‘Fuel to the fire’
In May, Southern Copper sued Retamozo and other Tapairihua miners, saying their mining permits were non-compliant.
Weeks later a fire destroyed Southern Copper’s local headquarters, which is made up of tents, just minutes downhill from where the small-scale miners are operating. Burned-out cars remain there today.
Nobody was hurt in the fire and no arrests have been made. Peruvian authorities say the matter remains under investigation.
The miners have distanced themselves from the arson, though Retamozo acknowledged the lawsuits have angered them and that some individual members may have acted out of “resentment.”
The number of valid artisanal mining permits in Tapairihua has fallen from 100 to 32 since May, according to government records. An internal mining ministry document seen by Reuters shows that the process is under way to revoke the remaining permits.
Retamozo cautioned about what would happen if those were canceled.
“Canceling them would add fuel to the fire,” he said.
($1 = 3.8811 soles)
(By Marco Aquino and Marcelo Rochabrun; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Ross Colvin)
Thursday, June 23, 2022
Residents end blockade of Las Bambas mine road, agree to dialogue
Reuters | June 22, 2022 | Las Bambas is one of Peru’s largest copper producers, accounting for around 2% of global supply. (Image courtesy of MMG Instagram.)
A community in Peru’s Andes mountains on Wednesday suspended their blockade of a highway used by MMG Ltd’s Las Bambas copper mine, agreeing to negotiate with the government and the company over the road’s use, one of the community’s leaders said.
“It is a truce that will last until Wednesday of next week. If a solution is not found, we will restart the protest,” Efrain Mercado, president of the Mara district defense front, told Reuters by telephone.
Residents in the Mara district of the Apurimac region had blocked the highway with sticks and rubber tires, according to photos published on Twitter and confirmed to Reuters by a community leader.
The blockade signaled a new conflict just two weeks after the mining firm resumed operations following another protest that forced Las Bambas to shut down for more than 50 days, the longest in the mine’s history.
A source close to Las Bambas said earlier on Wednesday it was not immediately clear if the protest had affected transportation of copper concentrate from the mine.
Protesters on Wednesday morning had been demanding payment for use of the road, according to a source close to the company and a protest leader.
“We are blocking (the road) because the government is delaying land appraisals on properties through which the road passes. It is an indefinite protest,” Alex Roque, one of the Mara district’s leaders, told Reuters before the blockade was suspended.
Peru is the world’s No. 2 copper producer and Chinese-owned Las Bambas is one of the world’s largest producers of the red metal.
The protest and shutdown have caused a major problem for the leftist administration of President Pedro Castillo, who came to office last year pledging to redistribute mining wealth but who is also under pressure to grow the economy.
Las Bambas alone accounts for 1% of Peru’s gross domestic product.
(By Marco Aquino, Anthony Esposito and Brendan O’Boyle; Editing by Sandra Maler)
Road to Las Bambas mine blocked again by residents
A community in Peru’s Andes mountains on Wednesday blocked a highway used by MMG Ltd’s Las Bambas copper mine, demanding payment for use of the road, according to a source close to the company and a protest leader.
The new conflict comes just two weeks after the mining firm resumed operations following another protest that forced Las Bambas to shut down for more than 50 days, the longest in the mine’s history.
Residents in the Mara district of the Apurimac region blocked the highway with sticks and rubber tires, according to photos published on Twitter and confirmed to Reuters by a community leader.
“We are blocking (the road) because the government is delaying land appraisals on properties through which the road passes. It is an indefinite protest,” Alex Roque, one of the Mara district’s leaders, told Reuters.
A source close to Las Bambas also confirmed the blockade, but said it was not immediately clear if the protest was affecting transportation of copper concentrate from the mine.
Following the previous hiatus in operations, MMG said it expected production at the site and material transportation to resume on June 11.
Peru is the world’s No. 2 copper producer and Chinese-owned Las Bambas is one of the world’s largest producers of the red metal.
The protest and shutdown have caused a major problem for the leftist administration of President Pedro Castillo, who came to office last year pledging to redistribute mining wealth but who is also under pressure to grow the economy.
Las Bambas alone accounts for 1% of Peru’s gross domestic product.
(By Marco Aquino and Anthony Esposito; Editing by Sandra Maler)
Colombia, Ecuador & Peru: Social engagement can make or break mining investment Henry Lazenby | May 20, 2022 | A 2021 meeting with farming communities protesting MMG’s Las Bambas copper mine in Peru. (Reference image by Peru’s Presidency of the Ministers’ Council, Flickr).
Companies operating in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru should do a better job of engaging and sharing the wealth their mines generate.
Observers tell The Northern Miner that implementing corporate social responsibility (CSSR) programs when mining business in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru is simply not enough to guarantee success.
Instead, mineral explorers and developers often see substantial projects halted in their tracks by staunch community-level opposition, even when projects had passed regulatory muster, says mining sector researcher, analyst and reporter Paul Harris, in an interview.
Legacy CSR programs are simply no longer adequate. The analyst suggests those wishing to do business in these jurisdictions take a more holistic approach toward meaningful engagement with host communities before engaging governmental authorities about their respective projects.
The solution, according to Harris, is companies today have to be willing to give up an ownership stake in their projects so that local communities and local and federal governments have more skin in the game. PAYWALL KEEP READING AT NORTHERN MINER
Peru fails yet again to broker truce allowing Las Bambas mine restart
Reuters | May 19, 2022 Las Bambas copper mine. Image: YouTube
Peru’s prime minister on Thursday failed to broker a deal with indigenous communities to allow for the restart of operations at MMG Ltd’s Las Bambas copper mine, the government’s fourth failed negotiation attempt.
Chinese-owned Las Bambas is one of the world’s largest copper mines, accounting for 2% of global supplies. The mine suspended operations on April 20 after two indigenous communities entered company property, reclaiming land that had once belonged to them before the mine started operations in 2016.
Peru is the world’s No. 2 copper producer.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Anibal Torres traveled to the Andean region of Apurimac where the mine is located. But he arrived late and then abruptly left the meeting only an hour after it had started.
“It’s a lack of respect toward community members,” Baltazar Lataron, the governor of Apurimac, said about Torres’s departure.
The failed meeting extends the uncertainty on when Las Bambas will be able to restart copper production as its current suspension approaches the one-month mark, its longest shutdown so far.
Las Bambas accounts for 1% of Peru’s gross domestic product and company executives have warned that if a solution is not found soon they may have to furlough or fire some of its workers.
The protesting communities of Fuerabamba and Huancuire sold land to Las Bambas in the past for millions of dollars, but allege the mine has failed to honor all of its commitments.
Las Bambas is notorious for its social conflicts, involving dozens of different Andean communities that allege the benefits of its vast mineral wealth have not trickled down to them.
(By Marcelo Rochabrun; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
Peru mining protests risk clogging $53 billion investment pipeline
Reuters | May 17, 2022 Yanacocha mine, in Peru’s northern Cajamarca region. (Image courtesy of Newmont.)
Peru, the world’s second-largest copper producer, risks losing out on billions of dollars of mining investment if the government fails to defuse protests that are hitting the industry and denting production, analysts and executives said.
Social conflicts have risen in the Andean nation over the past year since socialist President Pedro Castillo came into office, with a spate of protests against mines, including one that has halted production at the huge Las Bambas copper deposit.
With global prices soaring on high demand, that now threatens a mining investment pipeline of some $53 billion and could stall future projects expected by investment bank RBC to make up 12% of the world’s copper supply in years to come.
“Without any world-class projects on the horizon, the prospects for sustaining production are not good,” said Gonzalo Tamayo, analyst at Macroconsult and a former Peruvian mines and energy minister.
Mining executives and analyst met last week in Peru’s capital Lima, where the main concern was falling investment tied to rising social protests. A central bank report shows investment dipping some 1% this year and 15% in 2023.
The conflicts, mainly in poor Andean areas where communities feel bypassed by the huge mineral wealth beneath their soils, have started to bite, with protesters emboldened under Castillo who won election pledging to redistribute mining wealth.
Southern Copper’sCuajone mine was paralyzed for almost two months earlier this year.
Las Bambas, owned by China’s MMG Ltd, suspended operations in April after an invasion of the mine by communities demanding what they called ancestral lands. The mine, which produces 2% of the world’s copper output, remains offline.
Las Bambas had received government approval in March to expand the mine, a plan which is now under threat.
Álvaro Ossio, vice president of commercial and finance for Las Bambas, said in a presentation at the Lima event, that the country faces a big task to benefit from high global prices.
“The great challenge that remains for all Peruvians is to take advantage of this great opportunity in these future trends,” he said.
Peru’s last big mining investments were in Anglo American’s Quellaveco and Minsur’s Mina Justa of a combined $6.6 billion. Their operations starting this year will help Peru hit annual output of 3 million tonnes of copper by 2025, experts say.
However, other major projects like Southern Copper’s Tia María, Michiquillay and Los Chancas worth some $6.7 billion, Buenaventura’s near billion dollar Trapiche and Rio Tinto’s $5 billion La Granja remain up in the air.
Not all was downbeat, however.
The world’s largest gold miner, Newmont Mining, said at the event that it was considering expanding into copper production in Peru, with a potential future return to the canceled Conga project.
Analyst Tamayo, though, stressed recent protests against mining had become harder to resolve.
“Now there are protests that stop mines in full operation,” he said. “The mining firms feel that the State does not support them and that the State has ceased to be the arbiter in conflicts.”
(By Marco Aquino; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Richard Pullin)
Sunday, March 20, 2022
Blockade halts Southern Copper’s Cuajone mine in Peru Cecilia Jamasmie | March 15, 2022 The Cuajone copper mine is in southern Peru, about 878 km from Lima.
Operations at Southern Copper’s Cuajone mine in Peru have been suspended for 15 days as locals continue to block the company’s access to a water reservoir and other key supplies, the country’s mining and energy industry body has revealed.
The blockade began on February 28, when Southern Copper made the decision to replace a 50-year-old water pipe that supplies nearby communities.
According to Raul Jacob, chief executive of Southern Copper and current president of the Society of Mining, Petroleum and Energy of Peru (SNMPE), the section replaced is on the mine’s concession.
Jacob told local media he has documentation that proves the move was brought to community leaders as well as to regional and national authorities.
“The blockade took us by surprise,” Jacob said.
Workers at the Cuajone copper mine, which employs more than 5,000 people, are asking the government to mediate the conflict between the company and locals, arguing their jobs and lives are at risk.
“The refusal of residents to restore water supply to Cuajone and free the railroad prevent us from resuming operations at the mine,” Southern Copper said in an emailed statement.
The above video shared on social media shows mine workers asking for government help and calling locals to let supplies get to them.
The SNMPE said protesters were demanding $5 billion in compensation as well as a share of 5% of the company’s profits.
Mining specialist at Velocity Trade Capital, Pablo O’Brien, said there was more to the situation, which he qualified as “very serious.”
“No one can just turn off water supplies to a group of people whatever the reason is…This situation is an unfortunate proof that the state does not have the capacity at this time to mediate to resolve conflicts,” O’Brien said.
Peru is the world’s second largest copper producer after neighbouring Chile and mining is a key source of tax revenue. Residents of nearby communities have been increasingly protesting mines, claiming they cause pollution without contributing enough to local economies.
Fighting to keep top producer status
Southern Copper, part of Grupo Mexico, is one of the biggest copper companies by mineral reserves and Cuajone is its second largest mine in Peru.
The miner’s copper production dropped by 4.3% in 2021 and it recently said it expected the decline to continue this year.
Southern Copper expects to churn out 922,000 tonnes of the metal used in construction and electric vehicles in 2022.
“After this year, we believe our 2023 production will bounce back to one million tons of copper,” it said in a February earnings statement. “By the end of this decade, as our organic growth projects mature, we expect to hit the 1.8 million-tonne copper production mark.”
Southern is developing projects worth $2.8 billion in Peru. If the up-and-coming Michiquillay and Los Chancas projects are included, that figure jumps to almost $8 billion.
The road used by MMG’s Las Bambas copper mine to transport its metal has been blocked onand off by residents who are demanding financial contributions from the company.
Glencore (LON: GLEN), Hudbady Minerals TSX, NYSE: HBM) and Hochschild Mining’s mines have also been affected.
Social unrest in the nation’s mining areas deepens global concerns around a looming deficit of copper.
According to estimates from CRU Group, the copper industry needs to spend more than $100 billion to close what could be an annual shortage of 4.7 million tonnes by 2030.
Copper price rises on Peru supply disruption worries Staff Writer | March 16, 2022 The vast Cuajone mine complex begins with a water supply at Lake Suche at 14,500 feet in the Andes and ends with a smelter on the South Pacific coast. (Image courtesy of Fluor.)
The copper price rose on Wednesday as supply concerns resurfaced in Peru, the world’s second-biggest producer of the metal after neighboring Chile.
Copper for delivery in May rose 2.6% from Monday’s settlement price, touching $4.633 per pound ($10,192 per tonne).
[Click here for an interactive chart of copper prices]
Operations at Southern Copper’s Cuajone mine in Peru have been suspended for 15 days as locals continue to block the company’s access to a water reservoir and other key supplies.
The blockade began on February 28, when Southern Copper made the decision to replace a 50-year-old water pipe that supplies nearby communities.
The company said on Wednesday it plans to import copper concentrate potentially from as far away as Mexico for its refinery in Peru.
Raúl Jacob, the company’s vice president of finance, said this would imply an increase in costs and a decrease in profits for this year.
Southern Copper, controlled by Grupo México, has a smelter in the Peruvian town of Ilo and operates the Cuajone and Toquepala mines in the south. It also operates the La Caridad and Buenavista deposits in Mexico.
Southern Copper produced about 400,000 tonnes of copper concentrate in Peru last year, according to government data.
“This is going to drive up costs, for sure,” Jacob said. When asked if this would also impact profits for the year, he said it would because “every day that passes the company is going to be prevented from selling some $4.8 million.”
The protesters are demanding compensation of $5 billion for the use of their land and a 5% share of the company’s profits. The company says it has full land-use rights and that the protest is illegal.
Jacob said he hoped authorities would intervene to put an end to the conflict, claiming that the protest, along with others hitting MMG’s huge Las Bambas copper mine was affecting 20% of the country’s copper production.
(With files from Reuters)
Friday, August 27, 2021
Peru wants mining companies to help build railway to Pacific coast Reuters | August 25, 2021 | Harbour in San Juan de Marcona, Peru. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Peru is asking help from mining companies Las Bambas, of China’s MMG Ltd, and Grupo Mexico’s Southern Copper to build a rail system from a mineral-rich Andean zone to the country’s central Pacific coast, Mining Minister Ivan Merino said in an interview.
Representatives of both companies said they were open to discussing participation in the railroad, which would be used to transport both commodities and people. Peru is already the world’s No. 2 copper producer, and the country’s new government want to further develop the sector.
The railway, in the technical evaluation stage and with construction scheduled to start in 2023, would start in Cusco or Apurimac and go to the port of Marcona, Merino told Reuters in an interview late on Tuesday.
PERU’S SOUTHERN ANDEAN REGION HAS LARGE MINES SUCH AS MMG’S LAS BAMBAS AND GRUPO MEXICO’S LOS CHANCAS
“The cost of the project is being evaluated,” the minister said, adding that the train should be ready to roll in 2028.
Peru’s southern Andean region has large mines such as MMG’s Las Bambas and Grupo Mexico’s Los Chancas.
Las Bambas produces an average 350,000 tonnes of copper per year and Los Chancas is a $2.6 billion project, currently in the environmental impact study phase. Southern Copper plans to produce 100,000 tonnes of copper per year at the site.
“They are part of the project,” Merino said.
Asked about the plan, Southern Copper Vice President of Finance Raul Jacob said that he had discussed the train proposal with Merino.
“We consider it an interesting project that must be carefully evaluated,” he told Reuters in a written message.
MMG ‘s corporate affairs manager, Maggie Qin, said in an email that Las Bambas is aware of the railway plan.
“We are willing to work closely with the government and help it when and where it is needed,” she said.
Australia-based MMG is a subsidiary of Chinese state-owned enterprise China Minmetals Corp.
(By Marco Aquino and Hugh Bronstein)
Peru will seek to tax miners more when prices high Reuters | August 26, 2021 | Guido Bellido. Credit: Wikipedia
Peruvian Prime Minister Guido Bellido asked Congress on Thursday for legislative powers for the executive on tax matters as he seeks a first vote of confidence for the new cabinet of leftist president Pedro Castillo.
Bellido said that the government also plans to tap the excess profits of mining companies at times of high international prices of raw materials. Peru is the world’s second largest copper producer and mining is the engine of the Andean country’s economy.
First Quantum has completed 370,000 metres of drilling at La Granja. Image: First Quantum Minerals.
