In today’s Peru, mining continues to be a central activity. The country hosts a rapidly growing economy that has expanded uninterruptedly for the last 12 years and boasts tremendous optimism toward the future. Peru is currently attracting a wave of investments in agribusiness, power generation, oil and gas and, of course, mining. The latter leads the way. The announced construction of Las Bambas, a mega copper project by Xstrata, will be the largest single investment in the country’s history, with a planned expenditure of $4.2 billion. Copper production is expected to nearly triple with the upcoming investments, moving from the current 1.25 million metric tons (mt) of fine copper to 3.5 million mt in six to seven years.

According to the Peruvian Ministry of Energy and Mines, the mining sector has a project portfolio worth $41 billion; $28 billion of which will be directed toward copper projects. While critics argue this figure may be overoptimistic, as it does not take into account the social conflicts that are delaying some projects, such as Southern Copper’s Tía María or Anglo American’s Quellaveco, the perceived attractiveness of Peru as a mining-friendly country is at historically high levels. At the middle of the economic crisis, global exploration expenditure contracted dramatically (-42% in 2009), but in Peru it only decreased by 18%. Peru was indeed the third largest recipient worldwide for exploration expenditure that year; only Canada and Australia could boast more.