Peru Plans to Build New Railway Line

The President of Peru has announced a $1bn plan to build a cargo railway to support the mining industry in the northern part of the country by 2019.

The railway will transport copper, gold and phosphate from the mineral-abundant northern Andes to the country’s Pacific coast.
The rail line will extend from the northern Andean city of Cajamarca to the northern coastal Bayovar port. It will also link to the northern port of Paita.

The railway is expected to carry nearly four million tonnes of cargo annually, mainly from the gold mines of Newmont Mining and Gold Fields as well as copper from Rio Tinto and Anglo American.

The country hopes the railway will increase its annual GDP by 2% and carry about one million tonnes of supplies, such as fuel, back to the mines.

The country’s Energy & Mines Ministry expects at least $6bn in mining investment in northern Peru over the next ten years.