What Actually Makes a Good Mining Jurisdiction? (Episode 3)

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
This video is sponsored by Terrahutton, who makes the invisible, investible. Today on Resource Talks, we're doing something different, but kind of the same. This is episode three of a new series. I don't even know if I could call it a new series because it is episode three. Anyways, this is Jurisdiction Battles. It's a new framework that I'm using to essentially screen through four different jurisdictions in one episode, cut through the promotional BS and figure out what's really going on on the ground. Either the jurisdictions that are not well-known, nobody's talking about the new jurisdictions that are opening up, or the jurisdictions that are well-known but misunderstood.
In this episode specifically, I've got a wide variety of jurisdictions. It's including Saudi Arabia, Portugal, Mexico, and Peru represented respectively by Sun Peak Metals, Allied Critical Metals, Kootenay Silver, and Rio2 Limited. All four of these companies have been on the barbecue before, so again, this video is not intended as a company interview. It's meant to better understand the jurisdiction in which they operate. And of course, your standard disclaimer is your reply as well. These companies have paid for the video production. None of this is intended as investment advice because none of us are licensed financial advisors and your capital is at risk. This is a highly risky industry. Pause the screen and read all the warnings that I showed you to make sure you understand what you're getting into and do not consume this content if you don't.
Now, the framework that I'm using for looking into these jurisdictions is the PESL framework.
That's an acronym or whatever you want to call it. So it's a P-E-S-T-L-E, and that's a strategic analytical tool, at least that's what Google tells me. That's meant to evaluate the external microenvironment, which in exploration and development has one of the highest impacts on the final outcome. They call it a mnemonic device, which categorizes six of those external forces, that being the political, that's the P, economic, the E, social, the S, technological, the T, legal and environmental, the L and the E. I want to make two small changes to these things though. The T is not going to be technological, it's going to be transport, that's really where I want them to be talking to me about infrastructure, and the E is not going to be the environment, it will be specifically the geological environment. Now I want to kick it off with Peru here. Peru is a country located in western South America, along the Pacific Ocean Coast border by Ecuador and Columbia to the north, Brazil to the east, Bolivia to the southeast, Chile to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west, with the northernmost point lying just south of the equator. It features remarkable geographical diversity across three main regions, and it also has an incredible and incredibly diverse geology as well. The country covers an area of 1.3 million square kilometers, said Peru ranks as the 19th largest country in the world and the third largest one in South America. There's about 35 million people who live there.
And even though France is noticeably smaller, there's 67 million people live there just as a comparison to give you a comparison with an unknown country. So Peru is nearly three times bigger than France, and about half the people live there. But you're not here for a geography lesson, or you're not here really to hear me read more about Peru. You're here to find out if Peru is a good jurisdiction for mineral exploration development, and specifically with Rio2 mining, which means that I'll be shutting up already. And Alex, the company's chairman, will do the talking here. And Alex, the first part of the PESEL acronym is the P, which stands for political. And the recent past of Peru's political situation has been colorful, to say the least, if that's the right word. So talk to me about everything that you know. I know you live there, so you're probably closer to this. What is the political situation on the ground in Peru? Now, and how has that reality shaped the way that you run your company beyond what, you know, I might be able to see on Twitter or on your presentation?

**Alex** (3:58)
Yeah, I mean, Peru's just had a presidential election. A few days ago, Kaka Fujimori was declared the winner of the presidency. She'll be sworn in on the 28th of July this month, which is our Independence Day.
And, yeah, I think a sigh of relief throughout the business community of the country. You know, Peru has been pretty chaotic politically over the last 10 years. We've seen eight presidents serving their time during that 10-year period, so it's been crazy. But the interesting thing is that, you know, during that time, it's been business as usual, essentially, here in Peru. And, you know, I think that says a lot about the country and its resilience. It's also a reflection of its history. Peru has been through some interesting history in the past. And, you know, back in the 80s was terrorism, Shining Path. Then Alberto Fujimori, Keiko's father, came into power in 92 And, you know, as I've said to a lot of people, one of the things that's been a big issue is that Fujimori Alberto was caught up in corruption charges and human rights charges and all this sort of stuff during his presidency.