Aunt Mary

Today, the population of Islay in Peru are on the streets, marching in opposition to Southern Copper (SCCO) and its planned Tia Maria (trans; Aunt Mary) copper project in their locality. The protestors are supposed to number around 10,000 (i.e. 2,000 locals 7,000 rent-a-mob and 1,000 reps from world NGO treehugger brigades) and have threatened to block the Panamericana Highway that runs through their area.

From that first paragraph, you may have noted a bit of snark directed at the protestors. Well, that's true, because although IKN is the first to stick up for and support those against mining projects for decent and correct reasons, this time this author weirdly finds himself in agreement with the Twobreakfasts gov't and the nasty smelly horrible polluting miners. That's because this isn't a nasty smelly miner; it's SCCO, a decent company run by decent Peruvians (as long as the Grupo Mexico dumbass higher hiearchy doesn't interfere, that is) and with a solid track record of environmental care, worker safety and spreading benefits to all around (hey...including its shareholders on that, but we're entering the realm of the acceptable face of kapitalism here, komrade).

I digress. The point about this protest is that it's being sponsored by two factions, firstly the treehug brigade that are just latching on to the latest cause celebre and secondly the local politicos in Islay who are pissed because SCCO hasn't paid them a bribe like other mining companies have done in other areas of the country at other times in Peru's modern history.

• It's not about pollution of farmland, because SCCO runs two pits in very similar conditions without a problem.

• It's not about "stealing the local's water", because SCCO has offered several alternatives to the locals on how water will be supplied, including building a dam that will add ater supply to the local land, or even building a desalination plant to supply Tia Maria without disrupting the current freshwater table.

It's not about anything except a bunch of greedy locals getting paid to protest. It's bullshit. Tia Maria will go ahead and what's more it will be of great benefit to the local economy around Islay and to the national economy too and without causing any disruption in the bucolic life around it, you can quote me on that one. The treehug brigade are a bunch of corrupt parasites that should be more worried about real environmental causes, but they're doing Tia Maria because the company involved is big and rich and has money to...errrr...arrange things with.

Semi-coherent rant over. Thank you for your attention. Pisco sours served. The end.

Peru Copper Mining Projects

April 9, 2010: Peru Seen Consolidating World Number Two Position In Copper :Toromocho, Antapaccay, Las Bambas, Tia Maria, Quellaveco, La Granja
A number of major mining companies have projects underway and observers are confident that if the political situation remains under control, then Peru could consolidate its second place in global output. Source NASDAQ.com

Click the figure below to view the map and news.


See more:
Peru Copper Mining Projects

The Twobreakfasts Modus Operandi

García spots the breakfast waitress in the crowd

Why M.O.? Because it's as close as dammit to criminal. This is how the slob works:

First note this report of Southern Copper (PCU) and its 3q08 conference call on October 28th, when PCU head honchos specifically said that the Tia Maria copper project was on track, would be built, there were no delays, they'd already invested $569m of the approx $1Bn total estimated capex etc etc. A couple of choice quotes from the CC about Tia Maria, as reported by DJNW:

The company said that it will continue with its current investment projects in the Tia Maria and Toquepala mines, despite ongoing market turmoil.

"I don't think that delays are going to happen,"

As of Sept. 30 the company had committed $579.8 million for the Tia Maria project. Company chief executive Oscar Gonzalez Rocha said in the conference call that the total cost of that project in Peru could be about $1.0 billion, and that it is scheduled to be up and running by the end of 2010 or the first quarter of 2011.

I could continue, but you should have the message by now. Cut to last Friday, and in front of 800 of Peru's elite bizpeople at the APEC summit President Twobreakfasts said the following:

"Tía María cannot come to a halt, Mr Oscar González. "If it comes to a halt, we will have to look outside the country to sell it again."

So in Alan's pathetic little world, when PCU comes out with a confirmation that Tia Maria is on track in the next few days he can say "Look, minions...I am all powerful" or somesuch, even though PCU confirmed their plans to the general public just three weeks previously. I mean, what a freakin' asshole! The dude is a deceptive shit, be clear on that one.

His 19% approval rating is not a statistical freak.

Reuters interviews the CEO of PCU and gets interesting comments

On this link right here, President and CEO of Southern Copper (PCU), Oscar Gonzalez Rocha, talks about the state of play in the company and the copper sector. I haven't seen the interview in English (yet), but here are the Gonzalez direct quotes from the interview as translated by me:

(On the $5.1Bn investment and expansion program at PCU for the next five years): "We think that due to the crisis our projects could move foward a little slower, but at the end of the day we hope to execute them."

"We do not anticipate the need for credit, as now the situation is very diffuclt due to the US problems, and we can develop the project from our income cash flow....but if it is necessary, togher with the board of diretcors we will see if we can take a little away from the dividend pool to complete the projects if it's difficult to get credit lines." Gonzalez then mentioned that the Tia Maria project (120ktpa Cu) is due online in 2010.

(On the current market prices): "Unfortunately prices (for copper) have dropped considerably, from U$3.20/lb to U$2.70/lb. This will definitely affect us because although this only started at the beginning of September and we don't know how long it will last, income will diminsh due to the lower prices." He then mentioned that cash cost was around $1/lb at present, the rise due to fuel and steel costs. Gonzalez said, "Up to now we believe our projects are feasible; if copper was priced at $1/lb they would not be feasible."

(On market demand): "There is still strong demand from Asian countries. We do not believe they are going to slow construction and technological advance, this different to the USA which is semi-paralyzed.......At the same time we have mines which are suffering from reduced mineral grades or are on strike such as at Cananea, and this copper that is not reaching the market makes supply slightly lower than demand. This will maintain prices."