Living in Peru : your everyday companion

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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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Vancouver-based Zincore Metals aims to complete metallurgical studies to improve on the prefeasibility study at its Accha zinc project in Peru roughly in mid-2010, said company VP and CFO Giovanni Susin.

According to Susin, as he told BNamericas.com, they are planning to begin infill drilling to improve Accha's resource base in anticipation of a feasibility study.

Last week, Zincore completed a non-brokered private placement of common shares for total proceeds of Cdn$6.02mn (US$5.6mn), enough to cover its short-term work initiatives.

The company is now working to renew its access agreements with the local communities at Accha-Yanque, as well as at the Minasccasa and Dolores projects in Peru where drilling programs are targeted to begin early next year, said Susin

(Condensed from BNAmericas).

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

The rates for homes electricity service provided by the National Interconnected Electrical System will drop between 1.7% and 2.2%, as a result of the new regulations on the generation and distribution costs, according to Peru's National Surpervising Organism for Investment in Energy and mining (Osinergmin), as quoted by local business paper Gestión.

For non-residential users the drop will be bigger; between 2.2% and 2.6%, according to Peru's State News Agency.

"The price paid by consumers is a combination of prices for generation, transmission and distribution," said an Osinergmin's spokesperson.

The new scale of costs came into effect on October 1st, and the main factors causing this price are the drops in the High Volume Discounts Index, the exchange rate, the Copper Price Index and the Aluminum Price Index.

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Andina

YRC Logistics, a subsidiary of YRC Worldwide Inc., announced a new three-year service agreement with Minera Chinalco Peru S.A. for logistics activities supporting the construction of the Toromocho Project. The company will begin moving materials in late 2009 and anticipates copper production beginning  the first quarter of 2012.

The Toromocho Project is a large copper-molybdenum open-pit mine, located in the mountainous region east of Lima, expected to last 25 years. Production is projected at 273,000 tons of copper annually, generating an estimated 25 percent increase in copper production in the region. Currently, prices for copper are up, due to strong demand in the Chinese manufacturing sector.

YRC Logistics will manage the project door-to-door using a dedicated staff located in Lima, and is supported by the company's operations in Houston, Los Angeles, and Miami in the U.S., and China and Europe. Chinalco Peru, Inc., an exploration-stage company, engages in the acquisition and exploration of mineable deposits of copper in Peru.

Previously known as Peru Copper, Inc., Chinalco Peru became a subsidiary of Aluminum Corporation of China (CHINALCO), the largest diversified metals and mining company in China, on July 31, 2007.

YRC Worldwide Inc., is a Fortune 500 company and one of the largest transportation service providers in the world, and is the holding company for a portfolio of successful brands including YRC, YRC Reimer, YRC Glen Moore, YRC Logistics, New Penn, Holland and Reddaway.

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Andina

Latin American mining group Minera IRL has signed a definitive agreement with Catalina Resources that gives it the chance to earn a 75% stake in the La Falda gold project in Chile.

The two sides signed a letter of intent over a possible deal in March this year and since then Minera has been having a closer look at the project. It now want to start a drilling programme there in the fourth quarter of the year.

La Falda comprises mining and exploration permits totalling 14,387.5 hectares in the Maricunga Belt, III Region, in north-central Chile. In addition to a number of epithermal gold targets La Falda hosts a series of mineralized porphyry intrusives discovered by Catalina Resources.

After signing the letter of intent, Minera announced a large, well defined IP geophysical anomaly which supported the presence of a disseminated sulphide mineralized zone.

Minera already owns and operates the Corihuarmi Gold Mine in Peru and is progressing a scoping study on the Ollachea discovery, also in Peru. New projects have recently been announced at Bethania, only 10km from Corihuarmi, and Veca in north central Peru.

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