Newmont Mining Corp. responded to a report in the Financial Times that it had joined the race to buy the Las Bambas copper project by saying the story misrepresented Newmont’s stance on the copper project in Peru.

In an email to Reuters, Newmont spokesman Omar Jabara said, “The FT story misrepresented the context and spirit in which our CEO responded to a question about Las Bambas. He only said that Las Bambas was 'interesting' and was speaking about it in a hypothetical context. He never said that we have 'joined the race' to buy Las Bambas,"

The Financial Times reported that Newmont was eyeing the project in Peru after chief executive Gary Goldberg called it "an interesting prospect."

The Oct. 1 print edition of the Financial Times said Newmont had "joined the race for" Las Bambas. The Financial Times amended that headline on its website later in the day on Oct. 1 to read that Newmont had "joined the ranks of miners interested in" the project.

A note said the story had been changed to "clarify that Newmont has not confirmed whether it has bid."