Guillaume Légaré, Head South America, Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV)

With mining becoming a key engine of growth for Peru’s economy, TSX and TSXV play an active role in helping to develop the country’s mineral wealth.

With over 50 companies with 130 properties listed, what does the Peruvian economy mean for TSX and TSXV?

Latin America is an important mining market for TSX and TSXV; it currently represents 25% of all mining issuers on our equity markets. There are currently 410 mining companies in Latin America listed on TSX and TSXV, with 1,061 mining properties. Peru is the most important market in South America for TSX and TSXV; there are currently 62 TSX/ TSXV mining companies in Peru, with 137 mining properties. Mining is the engine of growth for Peru’s economy, and TSX and TSXV play an active role in helping to develop Peru’s mineral wealth. Toronto’s ecosystem understands and supports mining and the risks and opportunities. It is important to reiterate our unique twotiered ecosystem, where a company can list on our junior market TSXV and then graduate to the main board TSX when the timing is right to meet growing capital needs. Over 700 companies have graduated from TSXV to TSX so far, and some of the largest mining companies listed on TSX started out on TSXV. Approximately 52% of TSX mining issuers graduated from TSXV. This is a great opportunity for Peru’s junior companies to access capital through TSXV.

What is your assessment of the performance of these companies during COVID-19?

In the past few months, we have seen how mining jurisdictions adopted measures to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the sector and how they are tackling some of the ongoing challenges like environmental permitting processes and social license to operate. Surprisingly, in 2020, there was also momentum in our markets, and we saw a clear dominance of the mining sector on TSX and TSXV. Globally, there were 57 new mining listings in 2020, up 63% from 2019, and 1,642 financings, which is a 30% increase. In terms of Latam mining listings, there were 10 listings in 2020, a 12.5% increase compared to 2019, and 345 Latam financings, a 105% increase. For Peru specifically, there were 55 financings, a 96% increase compared to 2019, and USD329 million raised in capital, a 136% increase on 2019.

What is your outlook on the future of mining in Peru, and how can the country maintain its attractiveness for companies to keep being successful in raising capital?

The clean energy transition will be mineral intensive. More than 3 billion tons of minerals and metals will be needed to develop cleaner energy technologies and deploy wind, solar and geothermal power, as well as energy storage. Our TSX and TSXV markets support clean energy mineral producers, and base metals and battery metals are driving great interest in our markets. Peru will have an opportunity to play a key role in the world’s low-carbon future. Its mineral potential is impressive, it is rich in base and precious metals, and it has some of the largest reserves of critical metals necessary for the clean energy revolution. In this context, if Peru is to seize this opportunity and deliver on these global needs, it is imperative that we see more local management teams positioning their companies for future growth. Peru has the opportunity to develop its entrepreneurial capacity to move up the value chain. Sustainable finance is emerging as the new standard for mining companies to maintain access to capital. Institutional investors are increasingly looking to incorporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) into their investment analysis and decision-making processes. The proper level of disclosure around ESG issues and the availability of sustainability reports are sought by investors. In this recovery phase, the best way to facilitate investors committing any capital in Latam will be to meet the highest ESG standards achieved by well-managed companies and generate sustainable results for all stakeholders. The management team is also a critical element to consider for a company to go public. With constraints on capital, investors are looking for the best possible management teams developing projects efficiently. There are many other factors to consider, including the size, the mineral, the connectivity and the infrastructure, but investors are much more likely to back projects that have credible management teams with a successful track record.

Guillaume Légaré HEAD SOUTH AMERICA, TORONTO STOCK EXCHANGE (TSX) AND TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE (TSXV)