INN talked with Peru's mines & energy minister at PDAC 2019https://investingnews.com/daily/resource-investing/battery-metals-investing/lithium-investing/mines-energy-minister-lithium-potential-bright/ Mines and Energy Minister: Lithium Potential Bright for Resource-rich Peru At this year’s Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention, the Investing News Network had the chance to talk to Peru’s mines and energy minister, Francisco Ismodes:
At 2:43:
What about the lithium sector in particular? What opportunities do you see for Peru to grow in this space?
Peru, within its geological richness — it has been announced recently the discovery of a very important lithium deposit, which has generated a lot of expectations. Those are initial announcements about exploration results. There is a process that will continue to confirm the important reserves which are now resources. With that, we will be in an expectant position to promote this production in our country knowing that this is a mineral which allows a use that is developing, which is in electric cars, all the lithium that is used in batteries. That truly makes us expectant to see what is to come.
Are you working with miners to develop exploration projects in this space? Or what is your goal? Do you think Peru could be part of a “Lithium Square”?
Of course, we have an organization, an institute that is affiliated with the energy and mines ministry, and it’s called INGEMMET, which is the one that evaluates projects geologically, of the country as a whole. We’ve asked INGEMMET to work closely with the company that is exploring in the Puno region to understand and know a bit more about this deposit and give them everything they might need to develop it. At the same time, in Puno and the south region of our country there’s a great potential, mainly in copper, but there are other opportunities that are being discovered.
Seeing to this interview, what do you think will Ministry of Energy and Mines (MINEM) say about the last "bureaucratic issue" PLU is facing? Remember MINEM is the last administrative instance in this topic.