Dec 21 Peru’s government said on Monday that copper output in the world’s third biggest producer should rise 65.5 percent in 2016 to about 2.5 million tonnes after MMG Ltd’s massive Las Bambas project starts operations in February.
Ongoing talks with leaders in communities where protests against Las Bambas turned deadly in September have been positive and have not held up the $7.4 billion project, Energy and Mines Minister Rosa Maria Ortiz said.
The Las Bambas mine, in the highland region Apurimac, should produce between 250,000 and 300,000 tonnes of copper in 2016, Ortiz said.
Peru is expected to produce a growing share of copper supplies in years ahead, but community conflicts in the Andean country threaten to clog its $56 billion mining project pipeline.
Las Bambas would be the first mining project in Peru in recent years to start operations after the protests against it turned deadly.
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