Peruvian mining industry defends itself

Late last week, Roque Benavides, the general manager of the large Peruvian mining company Buenaventura, published an editorial in El Comercio calling for a responsible management of the country’s natural resources. He believes that the next Peruvian President needs to safeguard the tremendous economic gains that the country has made over the last 25 years. And because of the dominant role that the mining industry plays in the Peruvian economy, it will inevitably be at the heart of the future government’s economic development plan.

Benavides criticized the leading Peruvian presidential candidates for not speaking out clearly and firmly about the country’s mining industry. He also blasted their failure to discuss the subject of the management of Peru’s water resources. Access to water is an important basic right, but the Peruvian government must clear up misconceptions that many in the country have about the relationship between the mining industry and the country’s water resources.

In other mining-related news, an investigation by the NGO Propuesta Ciudadana revealed that the Peruvian government’s much-heralded mining tax reform program implemented in 2011 has produced much less revenue than originally expected for the government. The program has produced just one-third of the expected S/. 3 billion in annual tax revenue, largely due to the fall in global metal prices.