Mount Toromocho

Mount Toromocho, meaning in Spanish "a bull with no horns", is a mountain in the Junín Region, Peru that sits next to the long established mining camp of Morococha and hosts a large polymetallic metal deposit. It is now owned by the Aluminum Corporation of China (Chinalco), a parent company of Chinalco Mining Corporation International (CMC). Minera Chinalco Perú S.A., a subsidiary of CMC which operates the Toromocho mine, is boosting the mine's productivity with a new production line.

The mineralisation on Toromocho has been known and mined on a small scale for many years and was drilled by both the Cerro de Pasco Corporation and its successor (after nationalization) Centromin between 1966 and 1976 but it was evidently not considered worth exploiting, possibly due to lack of finance in the case of Centromin and the spectre of nationalization in the case of Cerro, or because it did not look economically viable at the prevailing metal prices.

Peru Copper Inc was formed in February 2004 and took over the Toromocho option that had been successfully bid for from Centromin by its predecessor company. The five year option required certain expenditures which Peru Copper completed satisfactorily and the option was exercised on 5 May 2008. There is no indication of any further payment for the exercise of the option.

In the meantime on 11 July 2007 Chinalco purchased Vancouver listed Peru Copper Inc for C$840 million and it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinalco. The new owner now plans to establish an open pit copper mine at a cost of US$2.16 billion to produce 210,000 tonnes of copper annually.

Much of the technical information comes from a report prepared by Independent Mining Consultants of Tucson, Arizona entitled Toromocho Project Technical Report, Prepared For Peru Copper, Inc.

The mountain of Toromocho is located about 140 km east of Lima on the main road to La Oroya. High tension power lines pass close by (although inadequate for Toromocho at present) as does the Central Railroad though part of this may have to be relocated as it runs over the projected limit of the open pit. It is next to the mining camp of Morococha where SIMSA and Pan American operate underground silver/lead/zinc mines. It is not clear how Toromocha will affect these operations but it has already been decided to move part of the Morococha mining camp. Chinalco is offering guaranteed housing and US$2,000 compensation to residents that have to relocate due to the development of the mine, and the offer has been accepted by a majority of the population via a referendum according to a BBC report.

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