U.S. taps into Peruvian riches
MINERA YANACOCHA, LOCATED IN NORTHERN PERU, IS CENTRAL AMERICA'S LARGEST GOLD MINING COMPLEX, WITH PROVEN RESERVES TOTALING SOME 37 MILLION OUNCES

Gold mining in Peru is centered in the rich Yanacocha gold district in the northern part of the country, and is the site of a complex of five gold mines and several major processing facilities all operating under the name of Minera Yanacocha, a joint venture mining operation that marked the first foreign investment in Peruvian mining in more than 20 years. The two main stakeholders of Latin America’s largest gold producing mining complex are the U.S. company Newmont (51.35%) and Compania de Minas Buenaventura (43.65%).
Last year, before construction of Minera Yanacocha’s fifth open mine pit was complete, production was a whopping 1.8 million ounces, and there is a lot more where that came from as proven reserves are in the range of 37 million ounces.

Carlos Santa Cruz General Manager of Minera Yanacocha

“There’s no question that we have great potential, but we need stable conditions in order to
attract capital over the long term,” notes Carlos Santa Cruz, general manager of Minera Yanacocha. “In our case, four years ago we were talking about a mine that had a potential life span of seven or eight years, now we’re talking about as many as 20 years at the
current rate of production, and even more if we continue exploring the area.”

Mr. Santa Cruz says the main secrets to the mine’s success are, of course, its huge deposits of gold, silver and other minerals that are ripe for mining, but also the smooth working relation-ship between Newmont and Buenaventura, and the special care Minera Yanacocha takes concerning environmental issues.

“There has been a process of technology transfer that has worked exceptionally well since the beginning. The combination of Newmont’s know-how and the local personnel has gelled so well that today we have a fundamentally sound operation,” Mr. Santa Cruz says. “Wherever domestic capabilities fall short, we bring know-how in from wherever we have to. If Newport has the solution, it is provided to Yanacocha and in this way we have been advancing, and turning this company into one that is much more efficient.”

Alberto Benavides Quintana President of Buenaventura

Roque Benavides General Manager of Buenaventura

The Buenaventura mining company holds titles to at least ten other mineral mines throughout the country, but the firm’s president, Alberto Benavides Quintana, acknowledges that it was Buenaventura’s discovery of the gold and silver deposits in Yanacocha, along with its partnership with Newmont, that signaled the rebirth of the Peruvian mining industry.
“It was believed that in Peru all the good deposits had already been discovered and that nothing new was going to be found. So when Newmont, in association with Buenaventura, discovered Yanacocha, it immediately sparked the interest of a host of new investors,” Mr. Benavides recalls.

Buenaventura also has the added distinction of being one of only two Peruvian companies to be traded on both the Lima and New York stock exchanges. General manager Roque Benavides says corporate governance has brought many advantages to Buenaventura, above all showing that 50 years of technical and operational performance has its rewards.
“The difference in Buenaventura is that the company’s growth has essentially been a product of its own exploration efforts and not through mergers and acquisitions,” he stresses.