Poll: Support Grows For Newmont’s Minas Conga Gold Project

A new poll by company GFK has found that national support for Newmont Mining’s massive Minas Conga gold project, located in Peru’s Cajamarca region, is increasing, daily El Comercio reported. The poll of 1,400 people, conducted between April 19 and April 21, shows that 54 percent support the project, which is up 6 percent from March. [...]

Minas Conga Opponents Hold Protest Awaiting Environmental Review

Opponents of the huge Minas Conga copper and gold project in Cajamarca region held a 24-hour protest on Wednesday, only days ahead of when the government is expected to make public a review by three independent consultants on the project’s environmental viability.  The review was handed in to the government at the end of last [...]

Scotiabank: Private Sector Investments To Rise 8% In 2012

Private sector investments in Peru are expected to grow eight percent in 2012 amid uncertainty in the global economy, Scotiabank Peru said, according to state news agency Andina. Scotiabank said that companies are planning “relatively aggressive” investment plans in 2012 and 2013 in a number of sectors, including retail, banks, construction and real estate, as [...]

Barclays: Peru Needs Systematic Solution to Social Conflicts

Barclays Capital said Peru’s government needs a systematic solution to social demands in the mining sector, rather than “putting out fires” amid opposition to individual projects. “The issue is political since we have seen social demands that need to be resolved systematically or structurally and not necessarily by putting out fires,” said Barclays Capital’s Roberto Melzi, [...]

Cajamarca State of Emegency criticized by Mine Protest Leader

The regional president of Cajamarca, Gregorio Santos, criticized President Ollanta Humala’s announcement Sunday evening of a 60-day state of emergency in four of Cajamarca’s provinces in order to bring under control protests against a multi-billion dollar gold and copper project. During an interview with Ideeleradio on Monday, Santos said that Peru’s new government “is lying to the [...]

Environmentalist priest appeals to premier and health minister for “just and humanitarian” solutions to Choropampa’s health crisis

Environmental activist Father Marco Arana wrote an open letter to Peruvian Premier Yehude Simon and Health Minister Oscar Ugarte, demanding “just and humanitarian” solutions for Choropampa, a small town in the Cajamarca highlands still feeling the effects of a mercury spill that occurred eight years ago. “I am writing this letter in solidarity with the [...]