CANADIAN MINING PERSPECTIVE: Six big projects in Peru total $13 billion, none Canadian

According to a recent edition of LatinoMinería, the six biggest mining projects in Peru are worth a tot...

According to a recent edition of LatinoMinería, the six biggest mining projects in Peru are worth a total of US$13 billion dollars. Sadly, only part of one is Canadian, although our miners are active in that country.

The projects noted are Chinalco's Toromocho (US$2.2 billion), Xstrata's Antapacay (US$1.3 billion) and Las Bambas (US$4.1 billion), Newmont's Yanacocha (US$2.8 billion), Southern Copper's Tia Maria (US$950 million) and the Antamina expansion (US$1.0 billion). Antamina is owned 22.5% by Vancouver-based Teck Resources as well as BHP Billiton, Xstrata and Mitsubishi.

As far as Canadian-owned development projects go, the La Arena gold-copper project belonging to Toronto's IamGold (100% owned) is expecting first production in Q4 2010. The project is operated by Rio Alto Mining of Vancouver, and that company is earning a 38.7% interest in return for an expenditure of US$30 million. Initial production will come from a leaching operation, and a 24,000-t/d flotation plant is to be built later. Cost of both phases of the project has been estimated at US$268 million.

Other development projects include Andean American Mining's Invicta gold-silver copper project, Chariot Resources' Marcona copper project, Inca Pacific's Magistral copper-molybdenum project (ownership of which is disputed), and Norsemont Mining's Constancia copper-moly project.

Next are the advanced exploration projects of Antares Minerals, Bear Creek Mining, Canadian Shield, Pan American Silver, Sulliden Gold, Trevali Resources and Vena Resources.

And lastly there are over 100 exploration projects in Peru that are being investigated by Canadian companies.

Canadian's are in Peru in great numbers, even if their projects are small compared to the six big ones on the horizon. In the end, though, it is the quality of the resource that will propel it to production to take advantage of strong commodity markets.

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