Francisco Orellana, Walter Raleigh and other explorers traveled through the South American jungles in search of the golden city of El Dorado. While their efforts at discovering the fabled site may have seemed ambitious, their instincts were correct. Latin America contains a mother lode of auriferous minerals and nowhere on the continent is more abundant in geological wealth than Peru.

The Invicta mining region has helped spur the nation’s economic growth. Peru is Latin America’s largest producer of gold; silver, tin, copper, lead and zinc are also contained within its borders.

While there are riches in the earth, she doesn’t give them up easily. That’s where Peacocke & Simpson’s expertise comes in. In our work with innovative developers Andean American in Peru, we are maximizing gravity concentration as a strategy for extracting gold silver, lead, copper and zinc contained in a polymetallic orebody.

Peacocke & Simpson has developed a flowsheet for our client with operations in the nation of 28 million people. We anticipate our efforts will lead to significant success — so much so that the use of gravity concentration in that region could lead to significant changes in how the nation’s mining industry approaches mineral extraction.

Mining makes up 6.5 percent of the gross domestic product of Peru and in 2003 it accounted for $5.6 billion (US) in production, according to government data. Growth is expected to continue as exploration in the region broadens. Recently, the Peruvian government released an additional 12-million hectares (approximately 45,000 square miles) for exploration use in an effort to raise up to $11 billion (US) during the next five years.

Many of our planet’s leading mining companies have invested heavily in Peru and are busy attempting to increase production there. We anticipate our involvement in these efforts will broaden as the industry increasingly sources cleaner, more efficient and more cost-effective solutions.