State of emergency declared at Peruvian Las Bambas copper mine

LIMA (Scrap Monster): The Peruvian administration has declared a state of emergency in six provinces following protests that led to death of people at the Chinese-owned Las Bambas copper mine project. The 30-day state of emergency has been declared in six provinces- Cotabambas, Grau, Andahuaylas, Chincheros, Espinar and Chumbivilcas which will cover the entire area where the mine is under construction.

The local population had been on an indefinite strike for four days, demanding revision of the environment plan of the mine project and hiring of more local workers. The protestors on Monday had confrontations with police, that left three persons dead and nearly twenty injured. Six policemen were injured and almost 18 were arrested in connection with the incident.

Following the declaration of emergency, armed forces have been deployed in the area in order to assist the National Police.

Located in Cotabambas, Apurimac region of Peru, Las Bambas is a large, long-life copper development project at an advanced stage of construction. According to China Minmetals’ Peruvian unit, it has completed almost 95% of the mine and has begun pre-commissioning.

Las Bambas has significant Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves of copper, gold, silver and molybdenum and once in production is estimated to have a mine life in excess of 20 years. In its first full year of operation it is expected to be one of the top three copper producing mines in the world and is currently one of the largest copper projects in construction on a copper resource basis.

The first production of concentrate from the mine was expected during the first quarter of next year.