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Copper production in Peru up 35% in May due to higher output at Las Bambas and Quellaveco

Kitco Media
By Vladimir Basov
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(Kitco News) - According to the Ministry of Energy and Mines of Peru (MINEM), copper production in Peru, the world’s second largest copper producing country, amounted to 234,781 tonnes in May 2023, up 34.7% compared to May 2022 (174,258 tonnes).

MINEM said that this positive performance was mainly due to higher production by major local copper mining companies, including Southern Perú Copper Corporation (+8.0%) and Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde S.A.A. (+5.9%).

The mines contributed most to Peru’s copper production growth in May were Las Bambas (May 2023 production is 29,624 tonnes, compared to zero production in May 2022) and Quellaveco (May 2023 production is 27,307 tonnes, compared to zero production in May 2022).

At the company level, Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde S.A.A. is first with an 18.2% share in total Peru’s copper output, followed by Compañía Minera Antamina S.A. (15.7%) and Southern Perú Copper Corporation (13.9%).

MINEM added that at the regional level, Arequipa is first with an 18.4% share in the country’s total copper production, followed by Moquegua (16.1%) and Áncash (15.9%).

In January-May 2023, Peru produced 1,072,294 tonnes of copper, which is an increase of 19.4% compared to January-May 2022 (898,189 tonnes).

The ministry noted that Anglo American’s new Quellaveco copper mine began commercial production in September 2022. In January-May 2023, the mine produced 109,504 tonnes of copper (January-May 2022: no production).

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Vladimir Basov

Vladimir (PhD, MEng in Mining) is a professional mining engineer, scientist and analyst that has more than 20 years of practical in-field and research experience. He is particularly interested in collecting, processing baseline data and writing insightful data-driven mining industry analytics, articles, statistical and research reports.

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