Peru Expects to Rival Chile in Copper Output as Xstrata, Anglo Build Mines

Sep 9 (Bloomberg)--

Peru said it expects to quadruple copper output by 2020, rivaling Chile as the world’s largest producer, as companies build new mines to meet rising demand.

The country will produce 4.8 million metric tons per year by the end of the decade, compared with 1.25 million metric tons in 2009,Deputy Mining Minister Fernando Gala said today at an event in Lima. Peru is the world’s second-largest producer after Chile, which had output last year of about 5 million tons.

Companies such as Xstrata Plc, Anglo American Plc and Aluminum Corp. of China are slated to start up six mines by 2016, Gala said, part of $41 billion in mining investment commitments over the next decade. About 70 percent of that will be on copper projects, according to the Energy & Mines Ministry.

We will rival Chile by the end of the decade,” Gala said. "Peru will double output to 2.4 million tons in four years.”
Copper futures for December delivery added 3 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $3.5005 a pound at 1 p.m. on the Comex in New York.