The Tia Maria copper mining project —located in Cocachacra district, Islay province, Arequipa region— resumed operations on Monday,
The minister underscored that this project will boost other mining projects.
"Prior to my trip, we met with the leaders of Southern Peru (company), and resuming the project was deemed appropriate," Mucho noted.
"Peru currently needs investments, thus generating employment and continuing to advance economic growth," he noted from Tokyo.
The government official mentioned that Peru needs to reactivate more projects.
"Tia Maria moves forward, and so will other projects; thus, we are going to recover the economic growth that we once had (registered)," Mucho said.
"We are going to recover the economic growth that we once had of 5% and 6%, which is what Peru needs to close social gaps, defeat poverty and, why not, have zero extreme poverty," he noted.
US$2 billion investment
The Cabinet member said Southern had made an investment worth US$1.4 billion in Tia Maria project. To present value, it would mean some US$2 billion.
He indicated that Peru needs these types of projects, which obviously have to go hand-in-hand with others, such as the construction of a dam and State intervention in the social gaps existing in the valley.
Employment generation
"Tia Maria is responsible mining that will generate 9,000 direct and indirect temporary jobs," Mucho underscored in remarks to TVPeru.
He acknowledged that there are groups of Peruvians whose ideology sometimes oppose these types of projects, "but the population has realized that we need this type of investment."