72

特 別
GENERAL OVERVIEW AND PROSPECTS OF THE MINING
講 演
AND METALLURGICAL INDUSTRY IN PERU

Oscar J. PERALES P.

Peru it is not surprising to find a great variety of natural

1. INTRODUCTION.
resources and among them, the most important in the Peru-
With a territorial surface area of approximately vian Industrial Structure: The Minerals. Geologically
1'300,000 km2 and around 23 million people, Peru is speaking, Peru is one of the richest and most varied coun-
located in the middle part of South America, between 0-18•‹ tries on earth. It is included among the world's top seven
latitude south and 69-81•‹longitude west. Peru borders on mineral producers, second in silver output, fourth in zinc
the north with Ecuador, on the south with Chile and and eigth in copper. It is also an important world producer
Bolivia, on the east with Brazil and Colombia and on the of lead, iron, gold, phosphates and a host of other minor
west with the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Lima, is minerals. Peru's metallic production includes 18 different
situated around 12•‹ latitude south. metals and around 20 nonmetallic and related industrial
The Peruvian territory is geographically divided into minerals. However, the Peruvian territory remains almost
three natural regions. The partially desertic coastal virgin in terms of mining exploitation; technical evaluations
region, or Coast, the highlands and the region of the estimate that only a small percentage, between 5 and 7%,
tropical forest or Jungle. of Peru's total mining wealth is currently being developed.
The Coastal region is a narrow band traversing from The resume shown in Table 1 illustrates the previous com-
the Pacific Ocean on the west and raising gradually up to an ments.
altitude of approximately 500 meters to the east. On the
Table 1. PERU: MINING PRODUCTION AND
coast there are valleys, prairies, small plateaus, and
RESERVES.
foothills. MAIN MINING PRODUCTS
The highlands, also called La Sierra, have the Coast as (Thousands of FMT, period averages)
its western limit and raise from an altitude of 500 m. from

the western flank up to 1500-2000 m. on the eastern flank.

The principal physiographic feature is the Andean Range

or "Cordillera de Los Andes", which runs along the west

coast of South America and crosses the country from north

to south. This impressive chain of mountains is known to

be one of the most intensively mineralized zones of the world.

The tropical forest extends from the western flank of

the Andes Range up to the eastern border. This region MAIN MINERAL RESERVES
comprises approximately 60% of the Peruvian territory and (Thousands of MT)
is further subdivided into two subregions according to
altitude and climate. One is the "high forest", or rupa,
and the other is "low forest", also called omagua.
Owing to these different geographic peculiarities in

*平 成6年6月16日 本 会 第92回 例 会 に おい て発 表
** Assistant Professor . School of Metallurgy. National
Engineering University. Lima-PERU.
平 成6年4月30日 受理

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 GENERAL OVERVIEW AND PROSPECTS OF THE MINING
The new concept of the Peruvian mining management
is to establish the best conditions to attract foreign invest-
ment and consequently, give mining the boost and the injec-
tion of fresh capital it needs. With the new mining law in
place, attractive tax stability contracts on offer, coupled
with the variety and richness of our mining deposits
together with an important experience in this business,
Peru offers now the best conditions for mining and
metallurgical development.
2. MINERAL OCCURRENCE AND
METALLURGICAL STRUCTURE
Historically, mining activities in Peru started a long
time ago. Our ancestors developed various and different
mining and metallurgical methods changing easily from
lithic instruments into metallic ones.
Archeological evidence establishes that the use of
metals in Peru began around 900 years before Christian
Era. The ancient metallurgists of Peru worked on Copper,
Tin, Gold, Silver, Lead and were able to obtain alloys of
Cu-Sn, Ag-Cu, Au-Cu, Ag-Au, Ag-Au-Cu, and sometimes
including Pt; for this purpose mastered techniques like foun-
dry, welding, laminate and so on. Those ancient Peru-
vians established a culture with a well-defined personality
reflected in their impressive metallurgical labors, most of
them perfectly preserved until the present time.
*Geologyand mineral occurrence.
The geology of Peru can be represented by the follow-
ing features:
i) The Peruvian Geosyncline; this a basin where mostly
marine sediments were deposited since the beginning
of the Mesozoic until the Andean uplift in early Ter-
tiary times.
ii) The Volcanic (North+ South); these are mostly early
to middle Tertiary in age and consist of innumerable
volcanic plugs, domes, cones, etc.
iii) The Coastal batholith; it extends along the Western
slope of the Cordilera. It is basically a granodiorite.
iv) The Eastern Cordillera; its rocks are older than those
of the Andes. It has not yet been studied in detail.
The occurrence of mineral deposits is showed in the
Map of figure 1. It is rather impressive but obviously con-
fusing due to the sizable number of these mineral occur-
rences. In order to simplify the situation let me show the
agrouped occurrences of our principal mineral resources.
Base and PreciousMetals.
The copper deposits are distributed widely all over the
Vol.41,No.2('94― 夏)
AND METALLURGICAL INDUSTRY IN PERU 73
country. One of the most important groups of porphyritic
copper is located in the southern part of the country, mainly
at Cuajone, Toquepala and Cerro Verde where production
is still in progress. Quellaveco deposit, also in the south, is
in the preliminary step of evaluation. Other porphyritic
copper deposits occur in the norht, such as the Michi-
quillay, La Granja and Cañariaco deposits which are
located near Cajamarca city. As an example, La Granja
deposit has probable reserves of 318.9 MMT with 0.78%
Cu, 5 g/t Ag and 0.015% Mo.
Besides the south eastern Peru, most of lead and zinc
deposits are related to the Peruvian geosyncline, (previous-
ly mentioned), generally as polymetallic deposits. For in-
stance in the zinc deposit of Antamina, located in Ancash,
proven and probable reserves amount to 166 MMT with
1.3% Cu, 1.1% Zn, 0.04% Mo and 16 g/t Ag. It is en-
visaged that the development of these areas would play an
important role fo rthe future of La Oroya metallurgical com-
plex.
The main sources of Peruvian veingold production come
from the region between Ica and Arequipa in the south and
The Pataz area in the north eastern part of the country.
Pataz area comprises a 130 Km strip along the eastern side
of Marañon River. Depending of the mineralogical associa-
tions and the ore grade, the principal metallurgical schemes
consist of cyanidation of gold-quartz-limonite ores by per-
colation, (heap-leaching) or agitation systems. In the case
where gold is associated with sulphide's, the ore is treated
by direct cyanidation or after a flotation stage. The
recovery from solutions is by means of conventional
methods of precipitation with zinc dust- fusion of pre-
cipitates and refining or adsorption onto activated coal-elu-
tion-electrowinning. Ultimately, "Minera Yanacocha", a
joint venture society formed by Newmont Mining Corpora-
tion from USA, BRGM from France and the Peruvian com-
pany Cia. de Minas Buenaventura, started the
metallurgical processing by dump leaching of the
Yanacocha disseminated gold-quartz-limonite deposit of
the north of Cajamarca City. The estimated reserves are
12 MMT of mineral with 1.5 g Au/t.. This plant is the first
gold plant one in Peru operating in a big scale and its pro-
duction will represent an overall increase of around 50% in
the total output of the yellow metal.
Another important source of gold is Placer Deposit
concentrated principally in Cuzco and Puno in southern
Peru; although the metal is also recovered from streams
throughout the Jungle. The San Antonio de Poto deposit,
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 74 Oscar J. PERALES P.

Fig. 1 PERU: Principals Metallic, Nonmetallics and Petroleum occurrences.

(From Minerals Yearbook, 1990).

near Lake Titicaca in Puno, reports geological reserves of timately associated with lead and zinc sulphide's.
122 MNm3 at 0.242 g Au/m3. Gold is also obtained as a Raw materials constitute more than 40% of all Peru-
byproduct from the pyrometallurgical processing of vian exports to Japan, with nonferrous metals, principally
polymetallic concentrates. Cu and Zn, earnings respectively US $ 29 MN and US $
The contribution of different sources of fine gold pro- 60.2 Mn in 1992. Particularly, Zinc exports have increas-
duced during 1988 in presented in Table 2. ed in importance and now Peru is one of Japan's largest sup-
In the case of metallic silver, most of the time it is pliers after Australia and USA.
associated with the gold as free silver or alloyed as elect- Nonmetallicand relatedIndustrial Minerals.
rum. On the other hand, silver minerals are also found in- Coal

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) 資源処理技術
 GENERAL OVERVIEW AND PROSPECTS OF THE MINING AND METALLURGICAL INDUSTRY IN PERU 75

Table 2. STRUCTURE OF THE GOLD PRODUC-
TION.
YEAR 1988
(Source: Commercial Mining Yearbook, 1988).
Recent geological studies reveal that the Peruvian te-
rritory contains more than a hundred of coal deposits,
distributed along the country and representing a total of pro-
bable reserves of 1,700 MMT.
The highest volume of reserves consists of anthracitic
coal. These deposits are located in areas of intensive tec-
tonic activity principally in the northern Peru and include
semi and meta-anthracitic varieties of high calonfic values.
Examples of this kind of deposits are the Alto Chicama
Basin located in La Libertad and El Santa Basin in An-
cash. In the central part, where it is characterized by lesser
tectonic deformation, it contains bituminous and sub-
yen reserves. Geologically speaking, the Bayovar deposit
was formed in a basin largely composed of quaternary
sediments, occasionally fluctuating from the Eocene to the
Miocene of the tertiary, with a highest potency of 2450
meters. The ore consists of fluorapatite, diatomite,
fragments of marine fossils, sponge residues, limonite and
ferromagnesian minerals.
Sulfur and others.
Eighty percent, (80%), of the Peruvian deposits of
elemental sulfur are located in the south, principally in Tac-
na region where it has been possible to identify up to 33
deposits. Among these deposits, the most important are
Yucamani, Tutupaca and Cano which represent an
estimated reserve in the order of 2 MMT with an average
grade of 50% of sulfur. The actual production of elemental
sulfur is restricted to a very small operational scale principal-
ly due to the lack of complete geological information to com-
plement the preliminary engineering evaluations. The
preliminary studies showed the feasibility to produce an
enriched sulfur with purity up to 99.5% and convenient
recoveries employing a size classification-fusion process.
A summary of the nonmetallic resources of Peru, show-
ing some important occurrences and their actual levels of
production is presented in Table 3.
*MejllUrgjal Structure .

bituminous coal including soft coal. The Basins of Oyon in According to the level of ore treated the mining and cx-
Lima and Jatunhuasi, which occurs between Junin and tractive metallurgical activities in Peru are classified in:
Lima, are the best examples for this kind of occurrence. Large Scale Mining, (more than 2,000 MT/day), Medium
Lignite deposits are found principally in north eastern Peru Scale, (between 1500 and 2000 MT/day) and Small Scale,
and in the oriental part of the Peruvian Jungle. for treatment levels of 400-500 Metric Tons per day. Ac-
The usual analysis of the anthracitic coal from the tually, the major mining companies such as Empresa
Callacuyan Mine located in the Alto Chicama area, shows Minera del Centro del Peru, (CENTROMIN-PERU), Em-
the following composition: presa Minera del Peru, (MINERO-PERU), Empresa
Regional Minera Tintaya S.A., (TINTAYA), are state-
Moisture 3.00%
owned. Shougang Hierro Peru S.A., (HIERRO-PERU)
Volatile Matter 3.69%
and Southern Peru Copper Corporation (SPCC), also large
Fixed Carbon 86.27%
mining companies, are privately owned. These companies
Ash 7.04%
produce around the 90% of the nation's copper, 35% of the
Sulphur 0.20%
lead, 24% of the silver and 35% of zinc output.
Calorific Power 13729.75 BTU/1b
Private companies dominate the Medium and Small
Phosphates. mining sectors. Medium-scale companies accounted 5%
The most important deposits of phosphate in Peru are of copper production, 54% of lead, 66% of silver and 57%
Bayovar in Piura, Sincos injunin, (9-10% P2O5), Ocucaje of zinc output. The 100% of the vein and alluvial gold is ac-
(5.5-14% P2O5) and Pozo Santo (4-8% P2O5) in Ica and tually produced by small and medium scale companies,
Urubamba in Cuzco. Bayovar phospate deposit is the only without including the future total gold production of the
large deposit in The Pacific Ocean Basin and Contains Yanacocha Mine.
around 10,000 MMT of phosphate with 500 MMT of pro- CENTROMIN-PERU, (CMP).

Vol.41,No.2('94― 夏) (19)
 76 Oscar J. PERALES P.
Table 3. PERU: MAIN INDUSTRIAL
Sources: Minerals Yearbook
This corporation is Peru's most important mining and
metallurgical complex and one of the world's largest.
major operations are mining, concentrating, smelting and
refining of polymetallic ores and concentrates.
CENTROMIN's geographical working area, located
in the Central Highland of Peru, is over 4,000 meters above
sea level, surrounded by wide ice tablelands, near the steep
and high tops of the Andean mountains. CMP has seven
metallic mines and eight concentrators located near each
mine in operation, at Cerro de Pasco (two concentrators),
Casapalca, Morococha, San Cristobal, Cobriza, An-
daychagua and Yauricocha. Cobriza is the only copper
mine, while the others are polymetallic with significant
grades of copper, lead, zinc, silver and minor assays of
gold, antimony, bismuth, cadmium, indium, selenium,
tellurium, etc.
In 1992 the seven mines produced a total of 6.2 MMT
of ores, (71% of the installed capacity). In 1993, to
September, ore production reached 4.9 MMT.
The CMP's metallurgical smelter and refining com-
plex located at La Oroya treats ores and concentrates to ob-
tain refined copper, lead, zinc, silver, gold and several by-
products, totaling 22 commercial products for sale in the
world metal market.
Other main assets are:
*Four hydroelectric power plants with installed capacity
to generate 183 MW.
*A 270-Km railroad system between Cerro de Pasco
, La
Oroya and Casapalca.
*Faciities at El Callao
, the main Peruvian port.
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MINERALS RESOURCES.
1990 and El Peru Minero, volume III.
.MINERO-PERU.
Its MP is the main holding company in the mining and
metallurgical sector. This company owned a copper in-
stallation in Cerro Verde, (Arequipa), with an annual
capacity of 33,000 MT refined Cu. The Cerro Verde com-
plex includes the Cerro Verde and Santa Rosa mines, three
heap-leaching pads for the treatment of mixed copper ores,
a secondary suiphide concentrator of 2,500 MT/d, and a sol-
vent extraction-electrowinning circuit. MI? also operates a
copper refinery in the southern Peru, in ho, with an annual
capacity of 175,000 MT of 99.999% Cu cathodes.
The MP's zinc refinery at Cajamarquilla, outside
Lima, consists of a roasting-acid leaching-purification-elec-
trowinning scheme and the iron produced during the acid
hot leaching of zinc ferrites is eliminated as jarosites. This
facility has an annual capacity of 102,000 MT of electrowon
Zn of 99.995% and also produces 178,000 MT H2SO4,
1,600 MT of cement Cu, 335 MT of refined Cd and 1,100
MT of silver concentrates as byproducts of the main Zn
refinery process.
The coal deposit of Callacuyan is also owned by this
company.
TINTA VA.
This company located in Cuzco, is the second largest
copper producer and owns a concentrator for its primary
suiphide minerals, of 10,000 MT/d of installed capacity.
SHOUGANG HIERRO-PERU.
The Chinese Shougang Corporation won the bid for
Peruvian state-owned iron producer Hierro Peru in
November 1992. At public auction, the Chinese offered
資源処理技術
 GENERAL OVERVIEW AND PROSPECTS OF THE
US $ 120 MN in cash for the mine with proven reserves of
500 MMT at 54% Fe and the metallurgical instalations, six
times the base price set by the privatization commission.
The installed capacity of this plant located in Marcona, Ica,
is 13 MMT of iron mineral/year. During the first trimester
1993, the production was 2'474,159 Metric Tons.
The predominant mineral specie is magnetite, with in-
teresting contents of cobaltiferous pyrite and copper
sulphide's; the processing is simple, based in magnetic
separation in wet and dry schemes. Most of the final pro-
ducts are treated in the siderurgic plant owned by SIIDER-
PERU in northern Peru with an installed annual capacity
for to produce 550,000 MT of steel.
SOUTHERN PERU COPPER CORPORATION.
This US-owned company is responsible for two-thirds
of all Peru's copper output. In 1989 SPCC's Cuajone
mine produced 113,696 tons of copper, 36% of Peru's cop-
per output. SPCC's Toquepala mine accounted for 80,316
tons, 25% of Peruvian copper production. The company
owns one concentrator for each mine, representing an an-
nual capacity of 300,000 MT Cu. SPCC also operates a
Smelter at Ilo with a capacity of 300,000 MT of fine cop-
per/year in the final blister.
3. PERSPECTWIES AND POSSIBILITIES
*Privatization Policy.
Mining is very important to Peru. Export of concen-
trates and refined metals brought in US $ 1.65 BN. in
1992, representing half Peru's total export earnings. But,
as that figure has remained virtually stagnant for the past
decade the Peruvian Government is now seeking private in-
vestment not only in this field but also in all the economics
activities of the country.
With the new policy of free competition most of the
Table 4. PERU:
Vol.41,No.2('94― 夏)
MINING AND METALLURGICAL INDUSTRY IN PERU 77
state-owned enterprises, nine in the mining sector, should
be privatized to improve their rentability and productivity
under an atmosphere of equilibrium and reciprocal benefits
between Peru and the private investors. A good example of
the privatization strategy is that the bidders have been re-
quested to present investment plans to assure convenient
operations.
The news that Centromin-Peru, the copper mine and
installations of Cerro Verde and Tintaya are soon to be
privatized provoked a flood of mining visitors to Peru in the
second and third quarters of 1993. Important names in-
cluded Phelps Dodge, Mitsubishi, Peking Mining,
Newcrest, Cyprus Metals, Placer Dome, Cominco, China
National Non-Ferrous and many more.
Besides the privatization of HIERRO-PERU's installa-
tions, last December the Minero-Peru's Plant of Cerro
Verde was adjudged to CYPRUS Metals in US $ 485 MN.
Individual privatization programmes for each unit are cur-
rently at different stages of implementation.
The strategy for Centromin's privatization is to "listen
the market" and potential buyers were asked to state their
interest in buying the company as a whole or as individual
production units. It looks that the most feasible alternative
will be the last one.
We are convinced that the CMP's metallurgical com-
plex of La Oroya is the center of economics activities for
Central Peru and consequently the idea is to modernize La
Oroya to make it competitive world wide; consequently any
package that would include investments in La Oroya will be
specially considered. At the present point, CMP is con-
cluding the updating of licenses and contracts of its proper-
ties. The company is also working on environmental mat-
ters to ease the way for privatization on all fronts.
*Investments and New Projects .
MAIN MINING PROJECTS.
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 78 Oscar J. PERALES P.

The following table shows an abstract of the principal tant event.

investment plants in actual development. Thanks for your kind attention and of course I would
All projects are requested to take in consideration the like to warmly extend an invitation to you to visit Peru not
necessity to preserve the ecological equilibrium in the areas only on professional reasons but also to enjoy our land-
under their influence. scapes, customs and our people. Any time will be the best
time.
ACKNOW LEIIDOEMIENT

Before I finish this paper, I would like to express my Abreviation used: FMT: Fine Metric Tons; MT:
gratitude to The Resources Processing Society of Japan for Metric Tons, MMT: Millions of Metric Tons; MN:
the invitation extended to me to participate in this impor- millions; BN: Billions.

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