The mining industry is working under new paradigms. Worldwide, the rise and fall of iron ore has taken its toll on the largest mining houses, after years of multi-billion investments and project cost overruns. In gold, silver, copper and other base metals such as zinc and lead, prices are substantially lower than their 2011-2012 peak levels. As a result, mining companies have redefined their priorities, divested assets and rationalized investment pipelines, with the goal of reducing debt levels and creating more free cash flow.

Peru is no exception to this trend, and on top of that, the country is right in the middle of a presidential election process, so the industry is doubly cautious and has adopted a wait-and-see mode. Yet, Peru cannot keep its positive GDP growth levels without fresh investment in the mining sector. After a disappointing 2.35% expansion in 2014, growth levels picked up over the last quarter of 2015 to reach an annual average of 3.26%. This was mainly a result of the commissioning of two enormous copper projects: the expansion of Freeport McMoRan’s Cerro Verde to 360,000 metric tons of throughput per day (mt/d), and the commencement of operations of Las Bambas, operated by Australian-Sino company MMG.