Goldman Sachs earlier in the day raised its year-end price target to $12,000 per ton, from $10,000 previously, citing the copper market’s path into scarcity and expectations of a larger deficit of the key metal needed for electrification.
Mucho said that the trend was helping save mining companies’ caution in the country, the world’s no. 2 exporter that has struggled to fend off a challenge from rival producer Congo as incoming mining investment has dwindled.
The minister added he had met with executives from Newmont (NYSE:NEM), Teck Resources (TSX: TECKB), Hudbay Minerals (TSX: HBM), Antofagasta Minerals (LON:ANTO) and others in recent months, who had shown interest in new ventures and operational mines.
“Most of the CEOs I talked to asked what projects there are and how they can get involved,” Mucho said, blaming political uncertainty under former governments for hurting the sector. Peru has had half a dozen presidents in the last six years.
“Confidence is being recovered.”
Peru expects to produce some 3 million tons of copper this year, up from 2.75 million last year, a goal Mucho stuck by, although he added production from protest-hit Las Bambas, owned by China’s MMG Ltd 1208.HK, was key to hitting the target.
(Reporting by Marco Aquino; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Marguerita Choy)
