A Copper Case for Cajamarca, Made by a Company That Owns Copper
PERU · MINING
Key Facts
- —The argument Regulus Resources says Cajamarca’s gold mines are within a few years of exhaustion and copper should follow.
- —Whose argument John Black, chief executive of Regulus Resources. An interested party.
- —His words A mine has a life, and some are a few years, or at most ten, from finishing.
- —The project AntaKori, a copper-gold skarn and porphyry system in Hualgayoc province, above 4,000 metres.
- —The resource Indicated 250 million tonnes at 0.48% copper. The estimate dates from 2019.
- —The stage Exploration and resource definition. No published feasibility study or permitting timetable.
A copper explorer telling a mining conference that the region’s gold is running out is making a case, not reporting a finding. The case is still worth examining.
Regulus Resources has argued at a Peruvian mining conference that Cajamarca’s established gold mines are approaching the end of their lives and that copper is the region’s next option, an assessment that comes from the company holding the copper project.
Who Is Making the Claim
John Black, chief executive of Regulus Resources, made the argument in comments reported on 13 September 2026. He described Yanacocha as South America’s largest gold mine and said the region’s mines are within a few years, or at most ten, of finishing.
That is an assertion by an interested party rather than an independent finding. Regulus holds the copper project it is proposing as the alternative, and the argument is a pitch.
No specific closure timeline for Yanacocha appears in the reporting, and none for Coimolache, Tantahuatay, Shahuindo or La Zanja. The Rio Times does not supply a date that its sources do not contain.
What AntaKori Is
AntaKori sits in Hualgayoc province in Cajamarca, above 4,000 metres and above agricultural land. It is a skarn and porphyry copper-gold system, the geological setting that produces most of the world’s large copper deposits.
The most recent published resource estimate dates from 2019: indicated 250 million tonnes at 0.48% copper, 0.29 grams a tonne gold and 7.5 grams a tonne silver, with a further 267 million tonnes inferred at 0.41% copper.
A seven-year-old estimate is a limitation worth stating. Regulus has reported expanding the mineralised footprint since, but the published numbers have not been restated.
What Stage It Is At
AntaKori is at exploration and resource definition. No preliminary economic assessment or feasibility study milestone, permitting status or development timetable appears in the accessible reporting.
Regulus presented the project at EXPOMINA 2026 on 11 September as a multigenerational copper asset, and has held progress meetings with Peru’s energy and mines ministry.
The project involves collaboration with Compañía Minera Coimolache and Buenaventura, including an integrated resource estimate across the adjoining ground. Ownership percentages are not confirmed in accessible sourcing and The Rio Times does not state them.
Why the Underlying Argument Holds Anyway
Interested or not, the geological point is sound. Cajamarca’s producing mines are mature, and copper deposits do sit beneath and alongside the gold systems in the same belt, because both are products of the same intrusive events.
Copper at a record price in September 2026 makes the economics of a Cajamarca copper project look better than they did, and the region has the road and power infrastructure that a mining district accumulates over decades.
The Part No Resource Estimate Answers
Cajamarca is where the Conga project was halted in 2011 after sustained protests over water, and social licence is the binding constraint on mining in the region rather than geology or price.
A project sited above 4,000 metres and above agricultural zones is in precisely the position that produced those conflicts. A multigenerational asset in Cajamarca is a claim about the rock, and the rock has never been the difficult part.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is being claimed?
That Cajamarca’s gold mines are within a few years, or at most ten, of exhaustion, and that copper is the region’s next option.
Who is claiming it?
John Black, chief executive of Regulus Resources, which holds the AntaKori copper project.
What is AntaKori?
A copper-gold skarn and porphyry system in Hualgayoc province, Cajamarca, above 4,000 metres.
How large is the resource?
Indicated 250 million tonnes at 0.48% copper, plus 267 million tonnes inferred at 0.41%, on a 2019 estimate.
What stage is it at?
Exploration and resource definition. No feasibility study or permitting timetable has been published.
Sources: Gestión, Minart, Proactivo.
This article was drafted with automated assistance and reviewed before publication. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief
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