Peru becomes world's second largest copper producer

Lima, Feb 10 : Peru has become world's second largest producer of copper with a total output of 1.273 million metric tonnes in 2009, the National Association of Mining, Oil and Energy said.

Peru has taken over the second position from the US, which produced 1.19 million tonnes of copper last year, Xinhua reported Tuesday, quoting the association.

Chile ranked third with 5.41 million tonnes of copper production in 2009.

Amid the contraction in demand of metals caused by the global financial crisis, investment in Peru's mining sector last year was $2.18 billion while the energy sector attracted $4.88 billion.

Peru's mining exports in 2009 reached $16.01 billion, which represented 60 percent of the total exports of the country, according to the association.

Peru is also the world's largest producer of silver, second in zinc, third in tin, fourth in lead and sixth in gold production.