Investors should favour Peru explorers that already hold drill permits because approvals can stall strong copper and gold prospects for years, Exploration Insights newsletter editor and analyst Joe Mazumdar said after touring the country.
His latest two-week trip capped three visits and 12 site tours in 18 months. At Barrick Mining’s (TSX: ABX; NYSE: B) Pierina gold mine, roughly 400 km north of Lima, Mazumdar saw the contrast. Barrick bought the discovery in 1996 and opened the mine two years later, while similar projects now face the same time for just an exploration permit.
“I’m not questioning the prospectivity, I’m more questioning, well, how long do I have to wait?” Mazumdar told The Northern Miner’s Western Editor, Henry Lazenby, this month at the Rule Symposium on Resource Investing in Boca Raton, Fla. “Sometimes these permits can take a couple of years.”
The permitting bottleneck threatens a pipeline of 69 exploration projects representing $757 million (C$1 billion) in planned spending, according to Peru’s Energy and Mines Ministry. Pro-investment president-elect Keiko Fujimori’s July 28 inauguration gives miners a chance to press for leaner low-impact drilling rules, but investors cannot price reform as done.
Watch the full interview below:
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