Another headache for Chinese mining giant Chinalco and its US$2.2 billion copper mining project in Toromocho, Peru surfaced last week. In January, you may recall, the company was struggling to find common ground with local residents over resettlement packages. Last week, chief executive of Minera Chinalco – the Peruvian arm of Chinalco – Gerald Wolfe told El Comercio that the opening of its Toromocho mine is at risk of delay or worse because of inadequate facilities at Callao Port, the country’s main exit point.

Wolfe described conditions at Callao Port as unchanged from 30 years ago and called for at least US$70 million worth of upgrades before 2012, when the Toromocho mine is to be up and running. Toromocho, to be Peru’s largest copper mine, will boost Chinalco’s annual tonnage in Peru by 35% to about one million tons.

Wolfe and a consortium of other mining interests are asking for a new terminal at Callao Port dedicated solely for metals. Renovations for Callao Port have been in the works for years – and must have been talking point when the Toromocho deal was brokered in 2007 – but Wolfe said the government has not provided any details or answered any questions concerning the upgrade to date. Peru’s minister of transportation and communication said there are four studies underway to assess how to modernize Callao Port, but no deadlines have been set.

With so much of Peru’s economic growth pinned to its attractiveness as a metals source for China and other nations, I’m sure Callao Port will eventually get the facelift it needs. It’s just a question of when. At present, though, no one seems very confident that the needed work will be completed by the beginning of 2012.

Image: David Baggins