Peru's Lambayeque region seeking to jump on mining opportunities

Peru's Lambayeque region seeks to promote mining by creating a transport corridor and offering land for desalination plants, facilitated by its access to seaports.

The transport of output from six major projects in northern Cajamarca region – Michiquillay, Yanacocha, Galeno, Conga, Tantahuatay, La Granja – could be streamlined through a mining corridor, with an exit through the future Lambayeque port terminal.

“Although we are not a mining region, we are proposing a comprehensive mining development plan. The corridor would cover about 400km in its entirety and, according to a preliminary study, it would cost 650 million soles [US$170mn],” governor Jorge Pérez Flores said in an interview with the Peruvian Institute of Mining Engineers.

Pérez said that the projects are within a corridor stretching 200km and that it's another 110km from Chota in Cajamarca to the Eten maritime terminal.

“If on that road we had a bimodal route – part paved and part with rails – we would connect Cajamarca with an efficient train line for both mining and community transportation,” he added.

According to Pérez, the northern mining corridor project has received the nod from lawmakers in congress, from the economy and finance ministry and the prime minister's office.

“Although we are still in the initial stages, we have contacted company IIRSA Norte, and the extension of its current concession was proposed to make the southern branch that will connect with the future port terminal. We have also proposed the possibility of launching the Cajamarca train route via a PPP to the transport and communications ministry. We hope that a commission will be formed involving us, representatives of Cajamarca and the [ministry] to establish a clear route,” he said.

DESALINATION  

Pérez Flores said Lambayeque could provide 1,000ha of land for the construction of desalination plants that could serve future mining projects in Cajamarca.

“Today we have technological processes that allow each cubic meter of water to cost US$0.68; and it is already profitable to do desalination [for mining projects]. In addition to the 1,000ha exclusively for mining use, we have another 1,000ha for buffer zones,” he added.