By Teresa Cespedes
Reuters
Gold production in Peru, the world’s sixth biggest exporter of the precious metal, will likely either plateau or dip slightly this year compared with 2013, mining companies, analysts and the government said.
Gold output will fall by at least 4 percent in 2014 to between 4.4 million and 4.6 million ounces, according to company and analyst estimates.
But the government hopes it can repeat the same level of production posted last year of 4.8 million ounces, deputy mines minister Guillermo Shinno said.
“This is not going to be a year when we grow in gold production,” Shinno said. “But we hope with the expansion of smaller mines, we can maintain production.”