Sometimes the bird’s eye view gives better insight to the future.
The two major products of Peru, which together comprise around 40% of everything the country exports in any normal month, are copper and gold. Here are the monthly production numbers for the last ten years for the metals in question:
The inference couldn’t be clearer: Peru is moving away from gold, moving towards copper. With Toromocho speeding up production next year, Constancia about to produce its first tonne of copper this month, then Las Bambas coming online in 2016, the $4Bn Cerro Verde expansion kicking in at the same time and others too, Peru won’t even need the ill-fated Tia Maria, the hated Conga, the never-gonna-happen Majaz or Cañariaco projects for copper to become even more in its exports mix in the next five years. And behind those there are more projects in early stage (Haquira to name just one). Peru’s reputation as first and foremost a gold mining country isn’t going to last much longer.