Canada firm says disputed Peru mine could help poor
Date: 07-Jun-02
Country: PERU
Author: Missy Ryan
"This project can work hand-in-hand with farming and is a great opportunity to develop a poor area of Peru," Roberto Obradovich, head of Manhattan's local unit, told a news conference on the planned mine in the Tambogrande valley.
"The state has a responsibility to help us make that happen."
The controversial case has captured the spotlight in this poor Andean nation, where generations of big foreign-owned projects have helped make mining Peru's top foreign currency earner but have also left a legacy of environmental scars.
The government of President Alejandro Toledo is counting on foreign investors like Manhattan to help it shore up bare state coffers and gear Latin America's No. 7 economy into growth after a three-year downturn.
Manhattan has already spent $58 million exploring the site some 630 miles (1,050 km) north of Lima, which they say will yield at least 900,000 oz of gold and 1.5 billion lbs of copper.
But many in the fertile farming valley, which produces 40 percent of Peru's mangoes and limes, have said they fear the mine would hurt their crops and taint the environment.
Last weekend, some 99 percent of voters who turned out for a nonbinding referendum voted against the project. Manhattan slammed the vote as "suspicious" and have said that local farmers are being steered by slur campaigns financed by international nongovernmental groups.
NEAR 2,000 NEW JOBS
Manhattan said fears that mining blasts could shake fruit from trees and leak chemicals into water supplies were unfounded. It outlined plans for what it calls a fail-safe mining process that will not create noise or dust.
Americo Villafuerte, Manhattan's general manager in Peru, said the mine would create 1,850 jobs - key in a country where unemployment and underemployment top 50 percent, and in a region where poverty statistics soar above national averages.
He also said the company had a social investment plan to boost farming and protect the environment during and after mining, showing photos of open-pit mines transformed into sparkling lakes suitable for swimming or irrigation.
Leaders of Tambogrande residents' groups said in Lima this week that according to Peruvian law, which does not allow expropriation for mining projects but does for "public necessity," the 2,000 people now living on part of the planned mine area could not be forced from their homes - and that could effectively halt the project.
Manhattan's President Charles Smith agreed, but said that the company would try to persuade townsfolk with "fair and equitable" pay for their homes or offers of relocation to "modern" homes nearby.
Manhattan says the area it has targeted for an initial open-cast mine is around 2.7 square miles (700 hectares).
"I think it's a simple matter of basic economics," Smith told Reuters. He declined to speculate on what the company would do if any people refused to accept offers or move, and admitted such refusals were a possibility.
"If that's rejected, that's rejected. There's always the possibility that somebody would not want to accept," he said.
Obradovich also said the company would look for greater participation from the government, adding he was due to meet with Energy and Mines Minister Jaime Quijandria on Monday. The company is due to submit an environmental impact study in July, and the government will have 90 days to approve it, reject it, or ask for adjustments.
