Protesters Target Conga Mine Project in Peru Again

   By Robert Kozak 
 

LIMA, Peru--About a thousand protesters marched to the site where Minera Yanacocha hopes to build the $5 billion Minas Conga copper and gold mine in northern Peru, officials said.

The protesters demonstrated Monday near El Perol lake, located on the project site in the Cajamarca region, to back a demand that the company halt work on the project. They were met by about 700 police officers.

Late Monday, Minera Yanacocha, run by Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM), said that protesters had burnt some tubes and other things, but that there were no acts of violence.

The company said almost all of the protesters had left the company's property.

Economists said that protests against a number of mining projects in Peru could slow foreign direct investment and economic development.

Violent protests against the Minas Conga project last year left a number of people dead and led the company to suspend work, except for the construction of water reservoirs.

Opponents have said that building a mine would threaten their water, something the company denies.

Minera Yanacocha said that construction of the El Perol reservoir will only begin once it obtains required permits, which it estimates could be by the second quarter of 2014.

Protest leaders said they plan to build a permanent camp near the lake to impede any work on the site.

"What we have been living through in the last few days could be the start of an escalation of the conflict, with results that are impossible to forecast," newspaper La Republica said in an editorial on Tuesday.

The project is located 73 kilometers from the city of Cajamarca and close to Minera Yanacocha's existing Yanacocha gold mine. Protests about 10 years ago caused the company to halt plans to mine the nearby Cerro Quilish deposit.

Production at Minas Conga is slated to have an average annual output of 580,000 to 680,000 ounces of gold and 155 million to 235 million pounds of copper during its first five years.

Minas Conga is 51.35%-owned by Newmont Mining, while Compania de Minas Buenaventura SA (BVN, BUENAVC1.VL) has a 43.65% stake. The World Bank's International Finance Corp. holds the rest.

Peru is one of the world's biggest producers of copper, gold, silver, zinc and other minerals.

Write to Robert Kozak at [e-mail]