Peru attracts $18.8 bn in mining, energy investment

Lima, Jul 1, 2010 (EFE via COMTEX) -- Peru's mining and hydrocarbon sectors attracted $18.8 billion in investment between 2000 and 2009, while the combined gross domestic product of those two industries rose 260 percent in that same period, the National Society of Mining, Petroleum and Energy said Thursday.

The trade association's vice president, Carlos Santa Cruz, said mining investment over that nine-year period came in at approximately $13 billion, while investment in oil and gas exploration and production totaled $5.8 billion.

That level of investment "has made Peru the (world's) No. 1 producer of silver, No. 2 in copper and zinc, No. 3 in tin, No. 4 in lead and No. 6 in gold," Santa Cruz said in statements published by official news agency Andina.

Likewise, the growth of the mining sector means the Peruvian government has collected more in royalty revenues, which exceeded $850 million in 2009," he added.

The trade association noted that mining accounts for 60 percent of total exports, adding that 128,000 people work directly in that sector and another 400,000 perform activities related to that sector.

In the latest chapter in the history of Peru's energy industry, a 15-year contract awarded to Spain's Repsol YPF to export at least 67 billion cubic meters (2.36 trillion cubic feet) of liquefied natural gas from the massive Camisea field in the Peruvian Amazon to a natural gas terminal on Mexico's Pacific coast has sparked criticism from nationalist politicians, environmental groups and indigenous-rights activists.