The vice president of Peru (IIMP) Institute of Mines (IIMP)Juan Carlos Ortiz, said that although Peru descended to third place in the world production of copperthis does not mean that the country has lost its appeal to mining investment.
Since 2023, Peru is below the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the Red Metal Production Ranking, although it still remains below Chile, which continues to lead the list.
However, Ortiz warned that this new position implies that the country is missing a valuable opportunity to accelerate its development and reduce poverty.
According to estimates of the United States Geological Service (USGS), the Congo would have closed 2024 with a production of 3.3 million tons, while Peru reached 2.7 million tons, which represents a difference of 500 thousand tons.
The IIMP vice president explained that in recent years the country has focused on recovering mining levels prior to pandemic and promoting new projects such as Mina Justa (2021) and Quellaveco (2023), as well as extensions in existing mines such as Toromocho .
“But there were no new projects in 2024, while in the Democratic Republic of the Congo there have been new mines and relevant extensions such as the Kamoa-Kakula mine,” Ortiz said in an interview with the IIMP.
For this year, copper production is expected slightly higher than that of 2024based on increased increases in some mines such as the bambas, which plans to start production from a new sector of its operation. The projection of the Ministry of Energy and Mines seeks to exceed 2.8 million fine metric tons of copper.
“A key point to resume The growth in copper production is the optimization of the evaluation and authorization processes of permits for extensions and new mining projects “, said.
Project unlock
Faced with the challenge of unlocking the execution of mining projects in Peru, Ortiz highlighted illegal mining as a threat. He also warned that there could be an impact for the 2026 electoral process.
“The proximity of the elections can generate uncertainty in investors (mainly foreigners). Likewise, the advance of illegal mining that blocks the access of new miners to formality”he commented.
He added that the branch of illegal mining even intends to modify the regulatory framework of mining concessions that has been a pillar for the development of the Peruvian mining industry of the last decades.
And it is that from the Congress of the Republic it seeks to modify the General Mining Law and with it changes for mining concessions with new deadlines and penalties. The legislative initiative seeks to cut the term of validity of these concessions when they do not initiate their investments in certain deadlines.
It also proposes to increase economic penalties for breach of the minimum annual effective production at age 20 since its degree (today is from the age of 30).
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