Peru's mining engineers find reasons to be cheerful

Peru is set to produce more than 2.8Mt of copper this year and post record mining exports, boosted also by gold and laying the foundations for strong growth in 2025.

Throughout this year, high metals prices have encouraged mining companies to prioritize production improvements, and the government has been working on simplifying procedures, especially in the environmental area.

BNamericas spoke with Juan Carlos Ortiz, vice president of Peru’s college of mining engineers IIMP and VP of operations at precious metals miner Buenaventura, about his assessment of the year, the investments companies have made and the outlook for 2025.

BNamericas: How are we ending 2024? What aspects are worth highlighting?

Ortiz: This has been a year of transition, because I believe it has allowed us to change the trend in mining operations, the average speed at which they grow and the time taken to obtain permits, among other factors.

There has been significant progress in the environmental permitting part – there are two stages, environmental permits and then operational permits. Several projects have obtained their environmental certificates and are moving towards obtaining the latter. Such is the case of Repuesto Antamina, which obtained environmental certification last year, and operational certification should not be far away.

The same is true for Las Bambas. I know there were problems with the opening of one of their new pits but it’s now on track. Hopefully this will help produce more [copper] concentrate.

BNamericas: Does the current price of copper influence higher production?

Ortiz: Yes. The current price is an incentive for all operations to prepare to increase their production by 5% to 10%. I’m sure that in 2023 and 2024, the cash generation of mining companies has allowed them to address the issue of open-pit mines, machinery repairs, infrastructure modernization, among other factors that are gradually adding up.

Although this is not a revolution, these are factors that could allow copper production to rise 2-4% next year.

BNamericas: How far will it get in 2025?

Ortiz: I don't know if we’ll reach 3Mt, but we will be getting closer. I think that if we close this year at around 2.8Mt, next year we will be above 2.9Mt and very close to 3Mt.

BNamericas: In a BNamericas webinar in which you participated, you said that the short-term focus will be on brownfield projects. In 2025, we’ll start with Repuesto Antamina and also Tía María. What other initiatives do you identify?

Ortiz: There is the case of Glencore with its Coroccohuayco project. The engineering of the project is very advanced and they already have the permits. What’s missing now is access to the land and the agreement with the community but I believe it’s one of the projects that could advance quickly in 2025.

In parallel to large projects, and when one talks to any colleague within the copper industry, one hears that various types of investments are being made, such as mining areas with higher grades, improvements in recoveries, expansion of water sources, improving leaching, among others.

They are all mapping out opportunities to capture the price of metals. In total, they’re not large projects but they are diverse and are making progress.  

BNamericas: And in the gold sector? What initiatives are you considering?

Ortiz: The main one will be San Gabriel, which will produce 135,000-140,000oz of gold annually [commercial operations are scheduled to begin in the second half of 2025]. We also have Yanacocha advancing with its leaching pads.  

BNamericas: Is the outlook for increased investment and production translating into business optimism?

Ortiz: I think so. The government as a whole has made a commitment to unblock significant projects – not just mining projects – and we’ve seen active coordination by the executive to bring together all the entities that grant permits and an active presence of the economy and finance ministry requesting meetings with the entities responsible for water, soil, among others.  

Whenever there were doubts about how to proceed, meetings were held and agreements were made within the regulatory framework. During this process, the mining companies were present and were able to give their views.  

In the specific case of Buenaventura, we obtained the environmental permit for Coimolache this year for the expansion of the next phase of the pad for gold production. We are also making progress at El Brocal, and everything seems to indicate that by the end of 2024 or early 2025 we will have the environmental certification of operations.  

BNamericas: And what about the work carried out by the energy and mines ministry?

Ortiz: There is a significant effort to have a technological platform that makes it easier to track files [permitting processes] and to unify – and understand how they work – the information systems of the entities involved such as the environmental certifier Senace, Serfor, among others. This is the digital one-stop shop.  

This has already begun for the exploration phase of mining projects but for investment projects it will still take a couple of years – three or four. I wish it were quicker, but we see that progress is being made in the right direction. There is a desire to be more efficient both from an environmental and operational perspective.

BNamericas: Peru will have elections in 2026, will this start to influence certain investment decisions?

Ortiz: I believe that the election results will have an influence starting in the second half of 2026. There are almost mandatory investments, and today everyone is moving forward with their permits, construction engineering, and looking at opportunities for optimization.

Really valuable work is being done, and I think the mining industry is waiting for April 2026 – the first round of the presidential and congressional elections – to see if they speed up [investment decisions] or continue for a little longer.