Peru Plans $1 Billion North Andean Railway For Minerals
15 September 2009 - 1:58AM
Dow Jones News
Peru's government is studying plans to construct a railway to
transport base and precious metals from the mineral-rich northern
Andes to the country's Pacific coast.
President Alan Garcia said late Friday that the project could
cost around $1 billion.
He said the project will likely to be completed over the next
decade, and could help add 2 percentage points to Peru's gross
domestic product. He said the railway, which could also carry fuel
back to Andean mines, could create 500,000 jobs.
The train will run from the northern Andean city of Cajamarca,
near large mining projects, including the Yanacocha gold mine, a
joint venture of Denver-based Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM) and Peru's
Compania de Minas Buenaventura SAA (BVN), to the northern coastal
Bayovar port.
Exploration projects in the area include Rio Tinto PLC's
(RIO.LN) La Granja mine and Anglo American PLC's (AAUKY)
Michiquillay copper project.
Peru is the world's top silver miner and a major producer of
gold, copper, zinc and other metals.
-By Leslie Josephs; Dow Jones Newswires; 511-98853-8610;
peru@dowjones.com