Peru declares state of emergency over mine protest

Enviromine

Publishing Date: 05 Dec 2011 1:18pm GMT
Author: Mining, People and the Environment

Legal and Legislation

Peruvian president Ollanta Humala has declared a state of emergency in the country after protests over Newmont Mining Corp's 51.35%-owned US$4.8 billion Conga project have brought the Cajamarca region to a standstill.

The protests have resulted in road, school and hospital closures in the region.

The presidential decree allows the military to assist the police in controlling the protests and reopening critical infrastructure.

The president said on state television: “Every possible means has been exhausted to establish dialogue and resolve the conflict democratically, but the intransigence of local and regional leaders has been exposed - not even the most basic agreements could be reached to ensure social peace and the re-establishment of public services".

Newmont has meanwhile suspended construction at the project, and threatened to take its investment elsewhere if the situation is not resolved.

The remaining interest in Conga is held by Cia Minas de Buenaventura (43.65%) and the International Finance Corp (5%).