Leandro Garcia

Leandro Garcia serves as CEO of Compañía de Minas Buenaventura, Peru's largest publicly traded precious metals mining company, listed on both the Lima Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange (ADR: BVN). The Benavides family, one of Peru's most prominent mining dynasties, founded the company in 1953 and remains the controlling shareholder. Buenaventura operates several gold and silver mines across Peru's Andean highlands and holds a critical 43.65% stake in Minera Yanacocha — one of the world's largest gold mining complexes, operated by Newmont Corporation. Yanacocha is transitioning from its mature open-pit operations to the Yanacocha Sulfides project, a massive underground expansion that could extend the mine's life by decades. Mining in Peru involves navigating one of the world's most challenging stakeholder environments: community relations with indigenous populations, water resource conflicts in arid Andean regions, environmental regulations, and frequent political instability. Key stock drivers include gold and silver prices, Yanacocha Sulfides development progress, operational performance at existing mines, community and social license issues, Peruvian political stability, and the broader precious metals cycle.