The deal fetched a 21% premium to Peru Copper's 20-day average trading price.

FORBES: Latin Mining Via Toronto

In Peru the Hallgarten analysts are fans of Northern Peru Copper, whose test bores show a sizable reserve of 7.3 billion pounds of copper and a mine life of 20 years.

FORBES: Latin Mining Via Toronto

Based in Pheonix, Phelps Dodge has copper mining operations in the U.S., Chile, Peru and Congo, while New Orleans-based Freeport operates the vast open-pit Grasberg gold, copper, and silver mine in Indonesia, and has reserves of about 37 billion pounds of copper and 40 million ounces of gold.

FORBES: Freeport To Buy Phelps Dodge For $26B

Mining is big business in Peru, which is a major world producer of copper, silver, gold and other minerals.

CNN: Peru: Nine miners rescued after six days underground

The expansion of copper and gold mining in Chile and Peru has mainly occurred in arid areas and has led to competition for scarce water with both export agriculture and the needs of the indigenous population.

UNESCO: Urbanization, globalisation and climate change are creating new challenges to water management in the region of Latin America and the Caribbean. | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

And because of that increase in investment, its demand for things like iron and copper shot up and that created additional investment in countries like Peru, Australia and Brazil.

BBC: The year in business: 2012