“The people have awakened,” declared Pedro Castillo from a balcony in Lima on Thursday evening, June 11th 2021, after the narrowest of election victories.

What does a Perú Libre government mean for Peruvian mining? If Covid-19 was the dominant theme of 2020, then the ramifications of a new government has undoubtedly been the prominent talking point in over 120 interviews conducted by Global Business Reports (GBR) in the first half of 2021. Could the situation mirror the Ollanta Humala presidency in 2011, when he rose to power on the back of anti-establishment rhetoric, but soon cooperated with market actors when faced with economic reality?

In 2020, investment into Peru’s mining industry totaled US$4.33 billion, a decrease of over 29% from the US$6.15 billion spent in 2019, according to MINEM figures. However, a rebound is expected in 2021. Producers have been looking to make up for time lost during the three-month lockdown in 2020, spurred on by the surging copper price, which hit an all-time-high in May 2021.

The bullish sentiment surrounding copper from a medium to long term perspective was clearly evident, but few could have predicted how the red metal would thrive during a global pandemic. Macro fundamentals such as the growing electric vehicle (EV) movement and planned infrastructure spending present a tremendous opportunity for Peru as the world’s second largest producer. To ensure this potential is fulfilled, political stability and addressing a cumbersome permitting process are urgent.

Sustainability, meanwhile, has evolved to become an overarching theme impacting all facets of mining. Rather than being an afterthought at the back of company PowerPoint presentations, ESG is now at the forefront of corporate strategy. Sustainability is also of particular importance in Peru, where project development has occasionally been obstructed due to a complex relationship between the mining industry and local communities.

To cover these topics and provide a comprehensive guide to the different companies involved in Peru’s mining value chain, GBR has renewed its strategic partnerships with the Canada-Peru Chamber of Commerce (CCCP) and the Peruvian Institute Mining Engineers (IIMP). The result of this collaboration is the production of ‘Peru Mining 2021’, an up-to-date review of the current operations and projects and the latest trends in Peru's mining industry. The 2021 edition is also the first fully digital report in GBR’s Peru Mining series.

We thank all of our interviewees for their time and collaboration. We also thank you for choosing Peru Mining 2021 as your source of information about Peru’s mining industry and hope it can contribute to a successful year ahead.