Peru on pace for more copper

Peru will produce 5% more copper in 2004 than in 2003, or roughly 881,000 tonnes, worth an estimated US$1.2 billion. The prediction comes from the country’s National Society of Energy, Mining and Petroleum, based in Lima.

The increase is due mostly to higher prices for the red metal.

In June, the country will auction off its Las Bambas copper deposit, thought to be larger than Peru’s prolific Antamina copper mine, which has reserves 530 million tonnes.

Peru is the world’s fifth-largest producer of copper.