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The Ministerio de Economica y Finanzas (Ministry of Economics and Finance) is responsible for the administration of all national enterprises outside of the defense sector.

The Oficina de Minas y Desarollo Minero (Office of Mines and Mineral Development) is responsible for the administration of national enterprises engaged in mining and mineral processing.

Empresa Nacional Minera del Centro del Peru (Centromin)

Founded in 1922 by the Cerro de Pasco Copper Company, the smelting complex at La Oroya processes and smelts copper, lead, zinc and other minerals mined throughout the region. The operations of the Cerro de Pasco company were nationalized in 1945 and the Centromin enterprise established to continue and expand the mineral processing activities located there. A number of local mines produce concentrates containing metallic impurities that cannot be separated by the flotation process. Metallurgists at Centromin have devised methods to separate and recover these metals as byproducts, and the three main smelters have become heavily integrated for this purpose. Centromin is one of few smelting operations in the world with this capability; as a result, it produces gold and silver (mainly from refinery residues), antimony, arsenic trioxide, bismuth, cadmium, indium, selenium, tellurium, sulfuric acid and oleum.

Empresa Nacional Minera Atacocha

Founded in 1936 as Compañía Minera Atacocha, a private company, to operate mining concessions in the districts of San Francisco de Asis de Yurusyacan and Yanacancha, province of Pasco. It was nationalized under the Presidential degree of 15 August 1945. Its activities include the production and sale of lead, zinc and copper concentrates. Production in 1946 amounted to 28,400 tons of zinc, 15,100 tons of lead and 64,000 kilograms of silver. To support its operations it has constructed two hydroelectric power plants – at Marcopampa and Chaprin – with an installed capacity of 6.6 megawatts.

Empresa Nacional Minera Buenaventura

Founded in 1940 as Compañía Minera Buenaventura to operate mining concessions at Yanacocha, La Quinua, and Maqui-Maqui in Cajamarca Department. It subsequently obtained mineral rights to the Julcani and Huachocolpa Mines in Huancavelica Department. These mines produce significant quantities of gold and silver, contributing mightily to the national economy. It was nationalized in August 1945.

Empresa Nacional Minera Marcona

The iron mines at Marcona, Ica Department, were discovered in the colonial era but their actual exploitation did not develop until the middle 1930s, and significant production of iron ore did not commence until 1946. The Marcona mine was one of the first major undertakings of the new government. Present production runs at 200,000 tonnes per annum, but further investment is planned to raise this to more than one million tonnes per annum by 1950.

Empresa Nacional Minera Rio Alto

This enterprise operates the gold mine at La Arena, in the La Libertad district in the northwestern region of the country. Initial concessions were granted in 1939 but production was delayed until 1944. Nationalized in 1945, the mine’s output is at the level of 8,000 ounces of gold per annum.

Empresa Nacional Minera San Rafael

The nation’s largest tin mine, the San Rafael Mine, Puno Department, was opened in 1942. Production presently amounts to 500 metric tons per day, but ongoing investment and expansion is expected to treble this by 1950.

Empresa Nacional Minera Volcan

This enterprise exploits copper, lead, silver and zinc deposits at San Cristóbal, Mahr Túnel, and Andaychagua in Junín Department. Operations began in 1943, but were nationalized in August 1945.

The Direccion General de Gestion de Recursos Publicos (General Directorate of Resource Management) is responsible for development of the country’s petroleum resources, including exploration, exploitation, and refining.

Empresa Nacional de Petroleo del Perú (PetroPerú)

Established in April 1945 through the acquisition and amalgamation of the Peruvian operations of the International Petroleum Company and Lobitos Oilfields Ltd. this enterprise operates the long-established oilfields at La Brea, Parinas, and Lobitos, all in the Piura Region, and the oil refinery complexes at the ports of Talara and Callao. Currently exploration work in ongoing in the Loreto Region of the Amazon basin.

Production of the three existing oilfields amounts to 2,300,000 tonnes of crude oil per annum, most of which are processed by the Talara refinery – its output includes 275,000 tonnes of motor gasoline, 250,000 tonnes of kerosene, and 400,000 tons of heavy oil per annum. That crude oil which is not refined for domestic consumption is exported to customers abroad to earn hard currency.

The Direccion General de Inversion Publica (General Directorate of Public Investment) is responsible for oversight of national enterprises in the manufacturing sector.

Empresa Nacional de Autocamiones

Despite its role as a supplier of motor vehicles to the military, the Empresa Nacional de Autocamiones falls under the Inversion Publica. It was founded in the late 1930s as a private venture for the assembly of motor vehicles at Callao and was among the first national enterprises when the Government rescued the firm from bankruptcy. At the present time it assembles Minerva all-wheel drive tactical vehicles for the Ejército and other armed services, and Dodge motor trucks for the private sector.

Empresa Nacional de Siderurgia

Established in 1945 as an integrated steel mill for the production of special steels – bars, light shapes, sheets, etc. Capacity 144,000 tons of sinter; 120,000 tons of pig iron; 120,000 tons of steel ingots; 38,400 tons flat products, 112,500 tons non-flat products. Facilities include a blast furnace, electric reduction furnace, steel shop with both Bessemer converter and electric furnaces.

The Ministerio de la Produccion (Ministry of Production) is responsible for management of all national enterprises directly engaged in support of the armed forces.

Servicios Industriales de la Marina

The first naval establishment in the nation was the Factoría Naval de Bellavista, established in 1845 in the city of Callao. For many years it was limited to the dry docking and repair of vessels constructed abroad, boiler-making, and the refurbishment of naval ordnance. Thoroughgoing plans were drawn up and executed in the early 1920s to provide a first-class shipyard capable of constructing large warships, marine engines of all types, and gun-founding. The Callao facility was complemented by a second shipyard, established in 1921, at Matarani, with ancillary workshops in the nearby city of Mollendo. In 1945 the two separate establishments were united as the Servicios Industriales de la Marina and a program of expansion put in hand.

Fabrica de Armas y Municiones del Ejército

For many years the Arsenal de Lima had served the Ejército as a storehouse for military weapons and associated equipment, and had undertaken repairs and refurbishment of ordnance. In 1936 the decision was taken to significantly expand the domestic manufacture of military small arms and other ordnance. With the assistance of Belgian and Czechoslovak technicians progressively more complex weapons – pistols, rifles, light automatics, machineguns, trench mortars, and hand grenades – were produced. Specialized small arms repair and artillery repair shops have been created, though heavy ordnance must still be procured abroad.

Empresa Nacional de Aviación

During the 1930s several attempts were made to create a national aircraft factory and to produce indigenous designs for military aircraft; these foundered during the conflicts of the period. However, in 1938, the engineering department of the Compañía de Aviación Faucett was nationalized and provided the sound foundation for aircraft manufacture. The Faucett-designed C-19 Pardusco single-engine transport was the first indigenous design to emerge, and has been recently followed by the T-21 Chululu single-engine trainer and club aircraft. The workshops at Lima also undertake major maintenance and repair tasks for the Fuerza Aérea del Perú.