Yanacocha is the largest gold mine in South America, Yanacocha gold mine located in the province and the department of Cajamarca, Some 45km from Cajamarca in northern Peru, at an altitude of 4,700m, The sheer scale of the Yanacocha gold mine in Cajamarca, Peru, is staggering. It is the largest gold mine in Latin America, and the second largest in the world, covering 535 square miles.
Minera Yanacocha operates a complex of five gold mines and two processing facilities with development activities in four primary basins. Not only was this the first significant foreign investment in Peruvian mining for 20 years, but the project was undertaken in an area where guerillas were active, so the operation had to be heavily protected without antagonising local residents. The operation is a joint venture between Newmont (51.35%), Minas Buenaventura (43.65%) and the International Finance Corporation (5%)
The Yanacocha gold district is a 10x4km zone of altered rocks within a belt of tertiary volcanics that extends the whole length of Peru.
In the Yanacocha district, the volcanic pile has been subdivided into three groups:
In the Yanacocha district, the volcanic pile has been subdivided into three groups:
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