• With a total of eleven mining projects worth over $23 billion, the Northern Macroregion expects to benefit more than four million people by 2031.

The regions of Piura, Lambayeque, La Libertad, and Cajamarca, which are part of the Northern Macroregion, concentrate 44% of the Peruvian mining investment portfolio. This portfolio has eleven projects, which are pending implementation and are worth over $23 billion.

This is stated in the study entitled “Economic and Social Impact of Mining in Peru, Northern Macroregion – Historical Perspective and Outlook to the Future,” conducted by the Center for Competitiveness and Development (CCD), in partnership with the Peruvian Institute of Mining Engineers (IIMP). The study was presented at the event Rumbo a PERUMIN – Northern Macroregion, which includes Tumbes, Cajamarca, Piura, La Libertad, and Lambayeque. This edition’s slogan is “Competitiveness and Sustainability, A Task for All of Us.” 

Of the regions included in the study, Cajamarca is the one that offers the greatest opportunity for sector investment, with projects for a total of $18.494 billion. The projects that stand out are La Granja ($5 billion), Conga ($4.8 billion), El Galeno ($3.5 billion), Yanacocha Sulfuros ($2.5 billion), Michiquillay ($2.5 billion), and Tantahuatay Replenishment ($194 million).

Cajamarca is followed by Piura, where we can find the projects Río Blanco ($2.5 billion) and Bayóvar Expansion ($450 million), whereas in La Libertad we find La Arena II ($1.364 billion) and Santa Marta Expansion ($121 million), and in Lambayeque, Cañariaco ($1,043)

“It is important to mention that mining has contributed to the substantial improvement of prosperity indexes, the reduction of poverty, the generation of economic resources for our towns, the generation of employment, and other basic aspects for their respective areas. Therefore, we would like to highlight the impact the mining sector has on our society,” said Domingo Drago, president of Rumbo a PERUMIN.

Employment Generation

The study also states that there are currently 645,000 people in the Northern Macroregion that benefit from mining as a result of this industry’s employment generation capacity (161,000 direct and indirect jobs, including jobs for direct family members.) From this perspective, the impact of mining is most significant in Cajamarca, where the sector has created 124,000 direct and indirect jobs, thus impacting 372,000 people. “This accounts for 34% of the region’s population,” noted Rudy Laguna, engineer and director of the CCD.

Along the same lines, he noted that the mining sector’s share of the GDP in the aforementioned regions is 11%. Additionally, he mentioned that the accumulated resources generated by mining—namely canon minero (fiscal redistribution), mining royalties, and the Programa Minero de Solidaridad con el Pueblo (Mining Program of Solidarity with the People)—for the 2000 - 2022 period amounted to PEN 13.3 billion.

“The accumulated resources generated by the mining industry are equivalent to the construction of 95 hospitals, 11 port modernization operations, and 205 high performance schools (COARs),” said Laguna.

Study Data

• If the mining project portfolio is implemented, mining in the Northern Macroregion would generate annual canon and royalties for a total of PEN 3.192 billion by 2031.
• By 2031, mining would benefit 4’084,000 people (1´021,000 people through direct and indirect employment, thereby impacting 3´630,00 people.)
• According to the 2031 project portfolio, mining would help reduce poverty by 13 percentage points, from 25% to 12%.

Rumbo a PERUMIN

Rumbo a PERUMIN is an initiative of the Peruvian Institute of Mining Engineers (IIMP) and the Executive Committee of PERUMIN 36. It involves an agenda of virtual activities that seek to create spaces for analysis, knowledge and debate on mining.