Peru unveils platform to speed up permitting

Officials from Peru’s Ministry of Energy and Mines met with representatives from the largest mining companies operating in the country to offer details on a new digital initiative expected to speed up permitting.

The miners applauded the Peruvian government’s effort to streamline certain processes and achieving greater coordination among all regulatory entities, particularly the National Water Authority (ANA) and the National Environmental Certification Service for Sustainable Investments (SENACE).

Executives from China’s MMG Minera Las Bambas, which accounts for 2% of the global copper output, were at the early February meeting, along with representatives from Compañía de Minas Buenaventura; Teck Resources (TSX: TECK; NYSE: TECK); Nexa Resources (NYSE: NEXA); Chinalco; Gold Field La Cima, and China’s Shougang Hierro Perú, among others.

According to the Mines Ministry, the next steps in the development of the ‘Single Window’ platform are focused on reducing the amount of paperwork miners need to submit when moving into the exploitation and production stages. 

“This initiative seeks to facilitate investors’ work in the development of mining activities in a responsible manner, with greater efficiency, and streamlining administrative processes to avoid duplication,” the Vice Minister of Mines, Henry Luna Córdova, said at the meeting.

The new platform is the result of a collaboration between nine government departments.

The government officials also took the opportunity to highlight that Peru broke a copper production record in 2023, having produced over 2.75 million fine metric tonnes of the red metal, a 12.7% increase from the production registered in 2022. 

According to the U.S. Geological Survey’s 2024 Mineral Commodity Summaries, the Andean country kept its position as the No. 2 copper producer in the world. 

The Mines Ministry also released the figures for other metals, noting that gold production reached 99 million fine grams in 2023, which is 2.8% more than what was produced in 2022 and which is mainly the result of the good performance of Newmont’s (NYSE: NEM) Minera Yanacocha.

Zinc, on the other hand, reached over 1.4 million fine metric tons, which is a 7.2% increase from 2022, with Compañía Minera Antamina and Volcan Compañía Minera taking the lead. 

Finally, the ministry mentioned that iron ore production reached over 14 million fine metric tons, which represents an 8.8% increase from the previous year.