Freeport-McMoRan’s Cerro Verde, pictured here, is Peru’s top copper producer with 1 billion pounds of copper produced in 2019. (Image courtesy of Huella Minera).

Peru’s gold exports grew by 86%, copper exports by 31% and zinc exports by 136% in June when compared to the previous month, new data released by the Ministry of Energy and Mines show.

Gold, copper and zinc make up 50% of the country’s metal exports and according to the Minem, mining continues to be responsible for over 60% of Peru’s international trade despite the slowdown caused by the covid-19 pandemic.

In its most recent report, the government agency states that June’s positive results are a reflection of the gradual and safe reactivation of mining operations – a process that started in May – as well as of the recovery of the global markets.

In a previous communiqué, the mines ministry reported that copper production reached 180,792 tonnes in June, 40.8% higher than the previous months, while gold production recovered 49.7% to 5,877,891 fine grams compared to May. Zinc production, on the other hand, jumped 313.6% to 119,174 tonnes.

The recovery of the mining sector was also noticed by the Ministry when looking at electricity consumption at mine sites.

“In May, [electricity consumption] showed a decline of 30.6% when compared to the same month of 2019. However, the figure went down to 12.9% in June 2020,” the report states.

Peru is the world’s no. 2 copper producer. 

Link:

https://www.mining.com/peruvian-metal-exports-recover-in-june-report/