Zinc companies in Peru, the world’s third-largest producer, will look to sell more concentrates overseas after the government said smelter Doe Run Peru may file for bankruptcy, according to a creditor, Bloomberg reported. A bankruptcy may take months to complete, said Carlos Galvez, chief financial officer of precious metals producer Cia. de Minas Buenaventura SA, a Doe Run Peru creditor. Doe Run, a unit of Renco Group Inc., may file for bankruptcy to restructure about $156 million of debt, Energy & Mines Minister Pedro Sanchez Gamarra said yesterday.

A unit of mining giant Grupo Mexico SAB is appealing a ruling that it is on the hook for $1.38 billion in cash and a stake in lucrative Peruvian copper operations to Asarco LLC, in a case alleging Grupo fraudulently shifted the shares, tipping Asarco into bankruptcy, Bankruptcy Law360 reported. Asarco first sued Grupo subsidiary Americas Mining Corp. in February 2007, arguing that Grupo Mexico's 2003 transfer of Asarco's 54.2 percent ownership in Southern Copper Corp., formerly Southern Peru Copper Corp., to AMC was fraudulent.