168 169 cerro de pasco The greatest investment of the XXth century In October 1955 the corporation acquired 30% of Empresa de Explosivos S.A. (EXSA), a manufacturer of industrial explosives. By then, the decision had already been made to develop the Cerro de Pasco open pit mines, which would make Cerro one of its main shareholders and, at the same time, a client. A seat on the board of directors guaranteed the quality of the required product, as well as the safety norms and efficient administrative management of the company, whose new plant was built in Lurin. That same year, 42% of Refractarios Peruanos S.A. was acquired. (REPSA), whose refractory brick plant would allow the transfer from La Oroya to the capital of the manufacture of those inputs that the company used in the reverberatory furnaces of the smelter. The U.S. corporation Harbison - Walker Refractories Co., from Pitssburgh, invited by Cerro, owned the majority of the shares of the new company and would be responsible for its administration and technical direction. Operations began in April 1957 and the first year they produced 1,800,000 bricks, a figure that would double the following year with the fitting out of two additional kilns. Almost all of its production was destined for the corporation. But in its search for more profitability, the company also explored options to bring greater added value to its products catalogue. At first, much of its production was ordered to be refined by ASARCO in the United States and, later, La Oroya began to develop more complex operations to produce in Peru more than twenty products from three base minerals: copper, lead and zinc. The next step was to drive the development of a plant for the manufacture of an extensive range of cables and cabling systems. Thus, in 1954 the corporation invested in INDECO S.A. acquiring 45% of the shares to give a decisive boost to its operations which, until that date, operated with an efficient rolling mill as well as a small mill. In a short time, the company would be able to satisfy more than half of the wire demand in the domestic market. Similarly, it designed the Reactivos Nacionales S.A. project, or RENASA, a chemical industry that had the purpose of meeting the demands of the metallurgical part of the La Oroya complex. Different circumstances prevented the dream of the company to materialise then, but on the basis of these plans the new company was created in the mid-1970s, when Cerro had already withdrawn from the country. All these specialised companies managed to successfully insert themselves into different national and international markets, especially in the region, where they have remained in operation to this day, employing many workers and professionals; for decades they have contributed tax revenues used for the development of the country and have made it possible to strengthen the foundations of the Peruvian industrial base from its inception. � THE COMPANY PROMOTED A SERIES OF INDUSTRIAL INITIATIVES AND INVESTED SEED CAPITAL TO CREATE COMPANIES THAT WOULD PROVIDE IT WITH QUALITY INPUTS AT A BETTER PRICE THAN IMPORTED ONES.
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