Monday, March 7, 2016

Despite low prices, Peruvian mining industry remains strong

­­­­­Over the weekend, Peruvian business journal La Republica reported that, despite rampant social conflicts, endless bureaucratic red tape, and falling prices, international investors still see Peru as an attractive place for mining investment. According to Alfredo Remy, a lead partner with PwC’s mining division, Peru captured 5.72% of the international investment in mining in 2015, up from its level of 5% in 2014. Remy cautioned though that Peru has fallen in some international rankings of attractiveness for mining investment, because of the problems mentioned above.

Andina News Agency reported on another part of PwC’s report, noting that the Peruvian regions received three times as much money from the mining industry as did the central government.  In addition, mining royalties grew by 15.47%, more than compensating for the 11.47% fall in royalties from the hydrocarbons sector.

In other mining news, Gestión reported that the mining industry continues to dominate Peru’s exports. Although overall exports declined by 15% in January 2016 over the previous year, mining exports made up an even larger percentage of the country’s exports than in the past.


In less positive news, El Comercio confirmed that around 2,000 miners are operating illegally in the National Reserve of Tambopata. At the end of 2015, the Peruvian authorities announced that they had discovered illegal miners operating in the national reserve, and El Comerico followed through on these reports and traveled to the area. The reporting found that the miners have brought heavy machinery to the reserve to start extracting gold form the rivers in the protected reserve.

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