China's copper mine project in Peru reflects its economic power

Gerry Wolfe, the Canadian-born president of a Chinese mining company, has a pretty good explanation for why Beijing isn't hunkering down like everyone else during the global financial crisis: "The Chinese have more cash than anyone else right now."

That's one reason Chinalco Mining Peru, a unit of China's state-owned Chinalco, is continuing with a project announced two years ago to open a $2-billion copper mine in the Peruvian Andes by 2012, Wolfe said in an interview in this capital Friday.

The open-pit mine is expected to produce a quarter of a million tons of copper a year and is one of five major Chinese mining projects planned for Peru that appear to be advancing despite the darkening economic climate. The reason? The Asian giant's insatiable need for raw materials.

Erica S. Downs, a China expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said Chinese mining companies are aggressively expanding worldwide, often through mergers and acquisitions that target companies that have been laid low by the crisis. An example is Chinalco's bid to acquire control of Rio Tinto, a giant Australian-British mining company.

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