MMG's Las Bambas faces production halt amid protests
LIMA – Chinese miner MMG is likely to have to halt production at its Las Bambas copper mine in Peru "within a week" due to protests that have blocked access to the site, a senior local executive told Reuters on Friday.
Alvaro Ossio, the mine's vice president of finances, said Las Bambas, Peru's largest copper minefield, had declared "partial" force majeure with contractors and was evaluating doing the same for copper sales.
"The plant is still operating with the stock we have, which is limited and will only give us a few more days of production," Ossio said. If the blockade continued then "probably in less than a week it would clearly paralyze all production," he added.
The potential freeze on operations comes amid wider protests that have hampered a number of mines in Peru's southern copper belt. The country is the world's second largest producer of the metal, which is also the main driver of its economy.
MMG said on Thursday that operations at Las Bambas would be affected by road disruption with supplies being blocked by anti-mining protests. The roadblocks have disrupted logistics at the site since September 22.
The unrest has affected shipments from four mines that produce about half of Peru's copper - Freeport-McMoRan's Cerro Verde, Las Bambas, Glencore's Antapaccay and Hudbay Mineral's Constancia.
Las Bambas, which accounts for 16% of Peru's entire copper output, had targeted between 385,000 tonnes and 405 000 t of copper production this year, versus 385 000 t in 2018.
Article Enquiry
Email Article
Save Article
Feedback
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
SmartMine IoT has been developed with the mining industry in mind, to provides our customers with powerful business intelligence and data modelling...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Developed to exceed the latest EN 15964 standards for police breathalysers proving that it will remain accurate and reliable for many years to come.
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
