Southern Copper Corp has been awarded the Michiquillay copper project with an offer of $400 million and 3% royalties, a package which surpassed the offer of its closest rival, Cía. Minera Milpo (Nexa Resources), which offered $250 million and 1.875% royalties, MinerAndina reports.

The project auction, under the auspices of ProInversion, was held on February 20 and attracted the interest of ten companies: Southern, Milpo, Minera Ares (Hochschild), Exploraciones Antakana, Hudbay Peru, Minsur, Rio Tinto, WanbaoMining, Teck Peru and Buenaventura.

Grupo Mexico, Southern’s parent company, informed MinerAndina that Michiquillay will produce 225,000 t/y of copper from ore containing 0.63% Cu from the year 2025, which is longer than expected by the market (four years), with a projected investment between $2 and $2.5 billion. Its lifespan is estimated at 25 years.

Claudia Cooper, Peru’s Minister of Economy and Finances, considered that Michiquillay would trigger other projects such as Quellaveco, Mina Justa and Corani. “All this mining investment is one of the pillars for the country’s development”, she said in a statement.

While Alberto Ñecco, Executive Director of ProInversión, said that he is witness of the interest the Michiquillay and La Encañada communities have in the project and can attest to their commitment to support it.

The Minister of Energy and Mines, Angela Grossheim, also congratulated the people of Cajamarca and stressed that the Michiquillay tender “marks a breaking point after seven years without relevant mining allotments in Peru. An investment of this magnitude denotes trust in the government and puts us back at the global level as an attractive destiny for investments”.