The Peruvian mining industry announced it’s investing $498.6mn to explore 64 new projects.
Of the total amount, the South American country is investing $391.7mn in 45 greenfield projects and $106.9mn to develop 19 brownfield projects.
Of the 64 mining projects, 53pc are copper-related, 18pc are for gold exploration, 16pc for silver exploration, 6pc for zinc exploration, 5pc for tin, and 3pc to mine lead.
The projects will be developed across 16 regions of the country, Peru’s Ministry of Energy and Mines (Minem) said in a statement.
In order to expedite the flow of investments, authorities modified regulations for environmental protection and mining exploration. They also amended regulations concerning mining transportation and storage.
The mining industry is one of the most important economic activities in Peru, representing about 9pc of its GDP and 60pc of the country’s exports. Copper and Gold are the most important metals exported by value.