Peruvian mining project challenged.

AutorJana, Elsa Chanduvi

Peruvian President Ollanta Humala's strategy to deal with the fierce opposition to a mining project from the residents of Islay province in the southern region of Arequipa will do more to polarize the country and reduce citizen support of his administration than it will to resolve the conflict. The mining project would affect agriculture in the region.

For more than two months (since March 23), Islay residents have been involved in an indefinite strike against the Tia Mana mining project of Southern Copper Corporation (SCC), which is 75% owned by Grupo Mexico (NotiSur, May 27, 2011). SCC will extract copper from two open-pit mines near the Rio Tambo valley, an important agricultural region that produces rice, potatoes, garlic, paprika, and sugarcane. About 80% of the population depends on agriculture, which in the Rio Tambo valley generates economic activity valued at 400 million soles (US $127 million).

SCC plans an investment of about US$1.4 billion for construction of the Tia Mana mine, with copper cathode production estimated at 120,000 metric tons per year once operations begin in 2017.

The reason for the population's distrust of the project is that the environmental-impact study (Estudio de Impacto Ambiental, EIA) that the SCC presented in 2009 received more than 130 observations from the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS). In 2013, the SCC presented a new EIA, which the Ministerio de Eneia y Minas (MEM) approved in 2014, indicating that the problems had been resolved. Those who oppose the project, however, say these observations should be lifted by UNOPS, the institution that made them.

In addition, the Organismo de Evaluacion y Fiscalizacion Ambiental (OEFA) has fined the SCC 14 times for a total of US$530,745 for environmental violations. As if that wasn't enough, in January 2015, the Fiscaba Especializada en Materia Ambiental sought a 2 1/2-year jail sentence and a civil-reparations payment of US$1 million for SCC President/CEO Oscar Gonzalez Rocha, for the crime of environmental contamination (arsenic) in the Ilo Sea.

Then, on May 16, Jose Luis Lopez Follegari, an analyst and member of Dialogo Minero, denounced the SCC for having solicited 4,889 hectares to initiate construction of a processing plant for the Tia Maria project when the EIA agreement allowed for only 488 ha. He added that the ministry had said that was an error that should be corrected, "when what the sector should do is to reject the application, return the...

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