The Export-Import Bank of Korea will finance a copper mine project in Peru, seeking to support South Korean companies in securing strategic resources in the overseas market, officials said Thursday.
 

The state-run bank on Thursday signed an agreement to inject some $200 million into the development of the Mina Justa Copper Mine in Peru, a project by local firms Minsur and Copec.

Minsur, the mining arm of the South American state’s largest conglomerate Breca, is currently the world’s third-largest trader of tin. Copec is the world’s No. 2 operator of paper pulp and the country’s largest oil refiner.

Starting from 2021, when the mine development is expected to be completed, 30 percent of the total production is set to be sold to South Korean firm LS Nikko Copper for the next 10 years, based on an earlier long-term purchasing deal.

The copper company, established in 1999 as a joint Korean-Japanese company, is currently the only copper refinery operating in Korea.

“Our goal is to contribute to the stable procurement of copper, which is a key strategic natural resource,” said an official of the state-run bank.

“We will further stretch efforts to secure other resources, especially those which are highly reliant on imports.”

Amid the rise of electric vehicles and consequently high global demand for copper, mine developers increasingly demand offtake financing as a prerequisite for development, officials said. The corresponding financing method requires that a designated proportion of the natural resource be allocated to the producer country.