The Peruvian government says it won’t give into local protesters and revoke a permit allowing Minera Yanacocha, controlled by
Thousands of Peruvians stopped work and marched through the northern town of Cajamarca, situated 860 km northeast of Lima, in early September demanding the permit be revoked. Observers put the number of protesters at roughly 10,000.
Protesters fear that a gold mine at Quilish could poison water supplies in the Andean province, but Yanacocha argues that water supplies will remain safe and blames drought for the water shortages.
Previous demonstrations by farmers in the region have delayed further exploration at Quilish since 2002. But exploration restarted in August after the Energy and Mines Ministry granted Yanacocha a new permit. Exploration work is expected to continue until March 2006.
Quilish, part of Yanacocha’s 1,500-sq.-km site, has reserves of 3.7 million oz. gold. Production there is slated to begin in early 2007.
This year, Yanacocha expects to increase its gold production from existing mines by 7% or 3 million oz. Newmont holds a 51.4% interest in Yanacocha, while Buenaventura owns the remainder.
Peru is the world’s sixth-largest gold producer.
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