The Illinois company began operations under the name Martin Engineering Peru with the opening of an office in Arequipa in April 2010.

It will now divide the region into five territories to better track activities and facilitate sales.

The Lima location will mainly service the central and northern regions and it plans to continue developing the Bolivian market.

While the company said its initial focus would be the copper, gold, zinc, lead and silver sites of the country, it would be expanding to coal handling as well as rock and aggregates once the facility was well established.

Martin Engineering will also incorporate its Foundations training program to help introduce its technologies and educate the industry.

Sales manager Jorge Manrique said the Peruvian market, with increased industrialisation and better infrastructure, represents a significant opportunity for the company.

“There is a definite need to introduce the latest bulk material handling technology to industries throughout the nation,” he said.

“Peru is quickly gaining ground on neighbouring countries in a wide range of industries and applications and the available natural resources are rich in minerals, fossil fuels and biomass products.”

Martin Engineering also has locations in Brazil, China, France, Germany, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, Turkey and the UK.

In June it announced the opening of a new, larger facility in the Jiangsu Province of China as part of an effort to increase capabilities for developing region-specific products and potentially grow its business to other parts of Asia.