Peru communities to allow Las Bambas mine restart after 51-day shutdown
LIMA - A group of indigenous Peruvian communities on Thursday agreed to temporarily lift a protest against MMG's Las Bambas copper mine that forced the company to halt operations for more than 50 days, the longest in the mine's history.
According to meeting minutes signed on Thursday afternoon, the truce will last thirty days from June 15 and the communities and the mine will engage in talks during that time.
MMG on Friday welcomed the agreement by the communities and said it expects production at the site and concentrate transport to recommence on June 11.
Peru is the world's No. 2 copper producer and Chinese-owned Las Bambas is one of the world's largest producers of the red metal. The protest and shutdown had caused a major problem for the leftist administration of president Pedro Castillo, who is under pressure to grow the economy and had struggled for weeks to broker a restart deal.
Las Bambas alone accounts for 1% of Peru's gross domestic product.
The protest was started by the communities of Fuerabamba and Huancuire in mid-April, who say Las Bambas had not honored all of its commitments with them. Both communities sold land to the company to make way for the mine, which opened in 2016 and is notorious for its recurrent social conflicts.
The two communities entered the mine and settled inside, forcing Las Bambas to halt operations. While Fuerabamba was evicted soon after that, Huancuire had managed to remain inside.
Under the agreement, Huancuire will no longer protest inside mine property. During the truce, Las Bambas will also halt construction of its new Chalcobamba open pit mine, set to be located in land formerly owned by Huancuire.
At the meeting, community leaders also demanded jobs for community members and for the reshuffling of top mine executives, who they blame for causing social conflicts.
Las Bambas has agreed to an "evaluation and restructuring of the executives" who participate in negotiations with the local communities.
Comments
The
functionality
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
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