Unless Peru gets to develop new mines at the soonest possible time, it is likely its mining output will all the more decline in the coming years, with overall mining production expected to fall 4 per cent in 2012 on depleted reserves, slowing global demand and domestic political upheavals.

According to official data collected by Reuters News, Peru's gold reserves available for production have dropped 20 per cent to 2.7 million tonnes in the last decade alone.

Proven copper reserves, meanwhile, jumped 30 per cent to 90.8 million tonnes.

According to Jose Miguel Morales, head of the gold committee of Peru's Society of Mining, Oil and Energy, Peru, the world's second biggest producer of copper and sixth biggest in gold, has actually extracted only about 10 per cent to 20 per cent of its mineral reserves.

Gold exploration companies have said new discoveries of additional and bigger reserves are always possible.

"Volume is declining, we expect by 3 per cent or 4 per cent this year," Mr Morales said. "It's not much, but if new mines don't start producing we are going to have bigger problems."

Analysts and experts also feared the declining prices of copper and gold in the world market will all the more hurt Peruvian miners, and the country's overall mining output as a consequence.

"There has been a fall in production in previous years, but prices were rising, now we have a double effect: prices are falling and production is falling," Carlos Herrera Descalzi, a former minister of Peru's energy and mines, told Reuters News.

Prices of copper in the world market dropped between January and May by as much as 2.32 per cent, while gold, still rises in times of financial uncertainty, ironically dropped by 0.6 per cent.

Most of Peru's mineral exports are anchored 70 per cent on copper and gold.