Living in Peru : your everyday companion

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Peruvian President Alan García, announced that another natural gas reserve has been found in the Peruvian jungle, and said that adding this to the existing reserves in three blocks in the Amazon, "Peru will secure natural gas until 2050."

"We can say that a large amount of gas has been found in block 58, in the area of Urubamba, Cusco,” he told the press.

He said that experts have informed they have found at least 58 trillion cubic feet (28,000 million cubic meters).

"We can say we have made a great leap in energy security and the productive capacity of our country until beyond 2050," he said.

He remarked that if these estimates are confirmed, Peru will have secured the gas reserves for the next 40 years for home use, vehicles, mining, petrochemical and even exports.

Camisea, located in the Amazonian basin in Cusco, is the largest gas field in Peru.

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Southern Copper Corp. could “easily” double its annual output to more than 1 million metric tons, according to Chief Executive Officer Oscar Gonzalez Rocha.

Southern, which expects to produce 500,000 metric tons this year, plans to raise output 70% at its Peruvian mines by 2012, Gonzalez said, adding that “We can easily reach more than 1 million tons of production from mines in Mexico, Peru and the US.”

Southern expects Peru’s government will approve studies for its $934 million Tinga Maria copper mine before the end of the year, allowing construction to begin in the first quarter of 2010.

Southern also plans to add 100,000 metric tons of annual production at its Toquepala mine by 2012, as part of $2.1 billion of investments in Peru.

(Condensed from Bloomberg)

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

President of Peru Alan Garcia paid a visit to Sambor Huaypo's irrigation project at Anta, Cusco, and assured publicly that the South Andean Gas Pipeline will be concluded before his mandate expires, in 2011.

"Before I leave office, the great South Andean gas pipeline will bring gas to Cusco, Arequipa, Puno, Tacna and Moquegua, because I honor my promises," said the President.

On the other side, Garcia pointed out that Sambor Huaypo works wil benefite 25,000 people in rural zones and a total of S/32 million soles (approx. US $10.5 million dollars) are being invested there.

Cusco Regional President, Hugo Gonzales Sayan who went with Garcia in his visit to the works, informed: "So far, the project has made progress up to 80%."

Finally, President Garcia announced a project that will allow the construction of 100 dams and 30 big reservoirs for all over Peru, starting in December.

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Astaldi, Italy's second-largest builder, has been awarded  a contract with a value of US$ 116 million (Astaldi with a 60% share), for the construction of Huanza hydroelectric power plant, in Peru, which will reportedly have an output capacity of 90MW.

The includes the execution of civil works, a dam of a volume of 30,000 cubic meters, a 10km tunnel, an hydroelectric power plant and a switch yard.

The works are expected to be completed in 29 months.

The Employer is Minera Buenaventura, one the major mining companies in Peru.

The project will be performed by the joint venture comprising Astaldi (with a 60% share) and Graña y Montero (with a 40% share).

(Condensed from Construction and Maintenance)

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

For the seventh month in a row, national production of silver increased by 5.15% last September, while gold production increased by 1.92% and copper by 1.65% compared to the same months last year.

According to a report from the Energy and Mines Ministry, silver production increased to 327,100 kg, a 5.15% increase from same month last year.

Moreover, gold production in September 2009 rose to 16,331,398 kgs compared to the 16,022,982 registered in September 2008, which is a 1.92% increase.

As for copper production, it reached 106,556 metric tons in September 2009, which means an increase of 1.5%, from the 104,831 metric tons registered in September 2008.

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

According to a press release, Peru's government granted mining rights to Newmont Mining in a lot near the frontier with Ecuador.

Newmont, a US based company, was granted with this lot “due to public necessity," reportedly with the aim of promoting development in frontier areas.

However, Peruvian laws explicitly ban foreign companies from acquiring mining rights near national borders.

Newmont's 20 lots span an area of some 18,962 hectares.

The company has not made any official comment on this yet.

Newmont already controls the Yanacocha gold pit (in Northern Peru), one of Latin America's largest mines.

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Chinese mining company Minmetals is planning to start the construction at copper mine El Galeno (in Peru) next year, so that they can start producing in 2,012, according ro "China Daily" (as quoted by Invertia).

El Galeno was acquired by China Minmetals and Jiangxi Copper Corp., and it has been estimated that it has reserves for 20 years, and that it would produce 144,000 tons of copper annually.

The company is increasingly looking to South American markets for mine resources and investment. Copper was its main focus, apart from other metals like iron, zinc, nickel and lead, said the newspaper, citing Zhang Shoulian, the company's assistant president.

According to China Daily, the company is also looking to extend its global footprint for mining resources to Europe.

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Bloomberg.com
Alex Emery

GDF Suez SA, the world’s second- largest utility, said it may invest $500 million in two Peruvian power plants to meet rising energy demand.

GDF Suez’s Enersur SA unit may expand its 545-megawatt Chilca gas-fired plant south of Lima and build a 114-megawatt hydroelectric plant in the northern Andes, Enersur General Manager Patrick Eeckelers said.

“There’s an opportunity to expand, as there’s a huge gap to be filled,” Eeckelers said in an interview today in Chilca, Peru. “With current market rates and the drop in equipment prices, it’ll be a good match.”

Enersur, which generates 1,000 megawatts at gas, diesel, coal and hydroelectric plants in Peru, is seeking to boost electricity generation after local energy demand grew faster than output over the past three years. Peru’s capital city was hit by two days of blackouts in mid-March.

National electricity output fell 0.3 percent to 2,692 gigawatt-hours in September, according to the Energy & Mines Ministry.

Enersur, which inaugurated a third, $80 million turbine at the Chilca plant today, may tap local capital markets to finance its projects, Eeckelers said.

The Lima-based company may also convert its diesel-fired Ilo power plants to natural gas if a pipeline is built on the south coast, he said.

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Norwegian company SN will invest some US $300 million to build a hydroelectric power plant that would start operating in 2014, according to its local branch (Cheves) manager, Alejandro Ormeño.

Cheves will build a hydroelectric central that will generate 109MW, he said, in Río Huaura, Churín, 210lm to the Norwest of Lima.

During the pre-qualification process, Peru's government was hoping to grant concessions for the production of 500MW between nine companies. However, SN Power's offer was the only one.

SN Power already owns and operates 271MW of hydro power generation in Peru through its 100% owned subsidiaries SN Power Perú S.R.L, Cahua S.A. and Electroandes S.A.

The new agreement would make SN Power the fifth largest power producer in the country.

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The Norway Post
Rollei Solhom

Norwegian engineering company Aker Solutions has been awarded the detailed engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCM) services on the Toromocho Project for Minera Chinalco Peru S.A.

The contract value to Aker Solutions is approximately USD 143 million.

The Toromocho mine site will become one of Peru's largest copper mines in 2012. Aker Solutions also previously completed the feasibility study and basic engineering for this project.

The Toromocho Project is a mining and processing ore facility located approximately 140 km east of Lima, in the Morococha District in central Peru.

The project requires the development of a large open pit mine, followed by ore processing at a rate of 117,200 tonnes per day, to produce copper concentrates. The location elevations range is from 4 500 to 5 000 metres above sea level.

Toromocho is expected to produce 225,000 tonnes of copper annually. In addition, silver will be recovered in the copper concentrate and molybdenum tri-oxide will be produced as a valuable by-product of the processing.

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