Peru Buenaventura Rethinks Zanja After Protests
Date: 18-Nov-04
Country: PERU
Author: Eduardo Orozco
Around 200 protesters broke into the La Zanja camp near Cajamarca in northern Peru on Tuesday evening, burning some tents and vehicles. Police used tear gas to break them up.
Buenaventura and its partner in the La Zanja project, Newmont Mining Co of the United States, were forced to abandon another joint exploration project, called Cerro Quilish, earlier this month after protests from farmers who said mining would damage water supplies there.
"There is a generalized current to try to get mining scrapped. The people who attacked (La Zanja) are not people who live near the operation, where 150 people from local communities work, they were people from further away," Buenaventura Finance Director Carlos Galvez told Reuters.
"In these circumstances we have to reevaluate, we have to see what to do given these factors, to revise things because we are exploring and developing projects and we don't want to get into fights," he added.
There was no immediate comment from Newmont.
Mining is a key motor of Peru's $60 billion economy and a major export earner, but locals are often afraid it will ruin farm land and destroy other livelihoods.
Mining companies complain that nongovernmental organizations are whipping up opposition to mining projects and scaremongering by overstating potential environmental damage.
ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS
Miners were often accused of leaving a trail of contamination in the past, but mining projects these days have to contain strict environmental protections and must have the backing of the local community.
The biggest project to be scrapped after protests was Manhattan Minerals' Corp. planned Tambogrande copper mine. Residents said the open-pit mine right under their town would have forced them to move and ruined their farmland in Peru's top mango- and lime- producing area.
The Peruvian government canceled its option agreement with Manhattan, saying it had not met all the terms of the deal, but protesters in Tambogrande claimed victory as theirs.
Britain's Monterrico Metals Plc -- which hopes its Rio Blanco copper project will become Peru's No. 2 copper mine -- has also been forced to conduct fuller environmental studies after protests from locals fearing contamination. Around 1,000 armed peasants in April attacked the project.
Buenaventura has 53 percent of the La Zanja project near Cajamarca in northern Peru and Newmont, the world's biggest gold bullion producer, has 47 percent.
The companies are exploring La Zanja as a possible open-pit gold and silver mine. According to Buenaventura, gold reserves at the site are 563,000 fine ounces with a purity of 0.03 ounces per tonne, and 3.8 million fine ounces of silver with a purity of 0.20 ounces per tonne.
Buenaventura said in a results statement last month that exploration costs increased 163 percent in the third quarter compared with the same 2003 period, mainly due to exploration expenses at the La Zanja and two other projects.
Denver-based Newmont is the majority partner in Yanacocha, Latin America's biggest gold mine and Buenaventura has a minority stake. Yanacocha had been exploring Cerro Quilish.
???
Venezuelan Beach-Goers Get 'Croc' Shock
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Swimmers and surfers on a popular Venezuelan beach got a shock when a nearly 10-foot (three-meter) fresh-water crocodile surfaced in the Caribbean sea off the coast near Caracas, officials said on Wednesday.
Fishermen spotted the reptile in the waters off La Guaira in Vargas State on Tuesday afternoon and firefighters used ropes to tie it up and haul it ashore while spectators watched from the beach.
"This is the first time it's happened here in La Guaira. This type is a fresh-water one. We don't know where it came from," Marine Fire official Maj. Nelson Leon told Reuters.
Officials from the Environment Ministry took the animal away and would later deliver it to a local zoo, Leon said.
Venezuela has abundant crocodile a
