I expect within 5 minutes of my posting this, Otto will come along and tell me the news reports are completely wrong, these correspondents don't know what they're talking about, etc....
--Peru priests held talks in Minas Conga mining dispute
--No agreement was reached at meeting, more expected to be held
--Priests call meeting "positive"
By Robert Kozak
(Updates throughout and adds comments)
LIMA--Talks led by two well-known Catholic priests with community leaders in the Cajamarca region of northern Peru ended Monday with no agreement on the outstanding issues surrounding the Minas Conga copper and gold project.
Participants in the meeting said they didn't rule out more taking place soon and the priests leading the talks called the meeting "positive."
The talks were called to restore peace following violent protests against the Minas Conga project. Parts of the Cajamarca region remain in a state of emergency, declared by Peru President Ollanta Humala last week following protests in which five people died and more were injured.
Priests Miguel Cabrejos and Gaston Garatea met with antimining activists, including the regional president of Cajamarca, Gregorio Santos, who is one of the main leaders of the protests.
At a press conference Mr. Santos called the meeting "productive."
Opponents of the Minas Conga copper and gold mine project have marched for weeks, pressuring the government to kill the project. President Humala has supported the approximately $5 billion project run by Minera Yanacocha, majority-owned by Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM).
Police in Cajamarca last week briefly detained antimining activist Marco Arana, a former priest, who now leads a left- leaning political party known as Earth and Liberty. Mr. Arana said Monday that more protests are expected to take place later this week in Cajamarca.
Antimining protesters attacked and destroyed government buildings last week.
Opponents want the government to cancel Minas Conga, saying it will hurt water supplies. The company plans to build reservoirs in order to ensure more water is available.
The government and Minera Yanacocha called a temporary halt to work late last year following protests but have since said the project will proceed.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Research said in a report Monday that the government appears to be stepping back from its hard-line stance against protesters, and appears willing to make further concessions.
"We believe that an outcome in which the government decides to withdraw permission for Conga in the face of its inability to control protests is possible and would not be well received by markets," it added.
Eurasia Group said Monday in a report that "The Ollanta Humala administration remains strongly committed to advancing Minas Conga at all costs. It is not only the country's largest FDI project, but the government views this as a test case that could shape other social conflicts affecting mining investment."
Peru is one of the world's largest producers of gold, copper, zinc, silver and other minerals.
Production at Minas Conga is slated to have an average annual output of 580,000 to 680,000 ounces of gold and 155 million to 235 million pounds of copper during its first five years.
Minas Conga is 51.35%-owned by Newmont Mining, while Compania de Minas Buenaventura SA (BVN, BUENAVC1.VL) has a 43.65% stake. International Finance Corp. holds the rest.
Write to Robert Kozak at robert.kozak@dowjones.com
--Activists, union plan protests
--Protests to go ahead despite mediation attempts
--Economists say canceling project would harm investment climate in Peru
By Ryan Dube and Robert Kozak
LIMA--Activists in northern Peru plan to continue with protests against the Minas Conga copper and gold project this week, despite ongoing mediation attempts aimed at restoring calm in the Cajamarca area.
The project's opponents plan to hold a 48-hour series of strikes and protests from Wednesday, especially in provinces of the region that aren't under a state of emergency imposed by the administration of President Ollanta Humala last week.
The government suspended civil liberties in three provinces of Cajamarca following the deaths of several protesters.
Two high-profile Catholic priests held mediation talks this week with community leaders opposed to the project, including with the president of the Cajamarca regional government, Gregorio Santos.
The priests are attempting to facilitate an agreement between the protesters, who say they are concerned about potential environmental damage, and the Humala administration, which supports development of the nearly $5 billion project.
Political analysts say many opponents to the project have political motives, and oppose the government's market-friendly economic policies. Economists say cancelling the project would harm the investment climate in Peru.
Opponents are demanding an end to any work on the project site and also want the government to end the state of emergency.
"The general sentiment is that if before there were reasons to call for Conga to be canceled, now, after the people were killed, the general sentiment is that Conga definitively has to be stopped. The deaths have provoked an even greater rejection of the project," said former priest Marco Arana, who was briefly detained by police last week. Mr. Arana now leads a left-leaning political party.
The main union federation in Peru, the CGTP, plans to hold a national strike on Thursday, in part in solidarity with the demands made by the activists.
Opponents say the mine will hurt water supplies, although Newmont Mining Corp. (>> Newmont Mining Corp), which holds a 51.35% stake in the project, plans to build reservoirs in order to ensure more water is available. The government approved the company's environmental impact study, or EIA, in 2010.
"We fully support the dialogue process underway and believe that discussion--not confrontation and violence--is the most responsible and productive way to resolve issues," Newmont said in a statement Wednesday. "Following the international experts' review of Conga's EIA, we are taking a slower approach to developing the Conga project, with an initial focus on building water reservoirs."
Following a meeting with President Humala Tuesday, Monsignor Miguel Cabrejos, one of the priests facilitating negotiations, said the government plans to name representatives to a group that will look to advance talks with opponents of Minas Conga.
Peru is one of the world's largest producers of gold, copper, zinc, silver and other minerals.
Production at Minas Conga is slated to have an average annual output of 580,000 to 680,000 ounces of gold and 155 million to 235 million pounds of copper during its first five years.
Besides Newmont's stake in the project, Compania de Minas Buenaventura SA (BVN, BUENAVC1.VL) has a 43.65% stake. The World Bank's International Finance Corp. holds the rest.
-Write Ryan Dube at ryan.dube@dowjones.com or Robert Kozak at robert.kozak@dowjones.com
And here's the point of view of the communist subversives:
WASHINGTON, DC, July 11, 2012 (ENS) - The Peruvian government must immediately halt violent repression of mining protesters, more than 80 environmental and human rights organizations demanded today in a statement that will be delivered to Peruvian embassies and consulates across the United States and Canada.
Protests against Peru's biggest mining project have been brutally put down in June and July in incidents that have left five people dead, including a 17-year-old boy, and dozens of others injured.
The protesters oppose the $4.8 billion Conga gold and copper mining project in the northern Andean province of Cajamarca, out of fear that their water supplies will be contaminated.
Mining company Minera Yanacocha last week began preparations for the construction of water reservoirs at the Conga project. Newmont Mining Co., a Denver, Colorado-based company that is the world's second largest gold mining firm, is the project's majority owner. Peruvian mining company Buenaventura is the minority owner.
The protesters object to mining company plans to drain three pristine mountain lakes and replace them with the reservoirs, and generate massive quantities of toxic mine waste.
Protests intensified in the last week of June after Newmont announced that the company would move forward with the Conga mine, despite growing community opposition.
The Peruvian government declared a State of Emergency in the region on July 3, suspending the right of assembly and causing fears of additional violence that proved to be justified.
On July 4, the day after the State of Emergency was imposed, Marco Arana, a former Catholic priest and a coordinator of opposition to the Conga mine, was pulled by police from a public bench during a silent vigil in the provincial capital of Cajamarca. He was beaten while in custody, suffering internal bleeding, a broken jaw, and other head injuries before his release July 5.
In their statement, the organizations express grave concerns about "the alarming escalation in the repression of free speech, police brutalities, and human rights violations related to extractive industry projects in Peru."
The signatories called on the Peruvian government to immediately put an end to these abuses, and to seek peaceful and dialogue-based resolution to conflicts related to the Conga mine and other mining and energy projects in Peru.
Signatories include Amazon Watch, Earthworks, Earthjustice, Friends of the Earth, MiningWatch Canada, Oxfam America, Rainforest Action Network and the United Steelworkers.
The Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team, EPAF, also issued a statement condemning the violence. The group, based in Lima, said the recent deaths in Cajamarca demonstrate the "widespread moral crisis" that exists in the Armed Forces and the National Police and is manifested in the excessive use of force, abuse of authority-verbal and physical-and concealment on the part of superiors, such acts, reminiscent of "the worst years of the political violence."
In its July 9 statement, EPAF members demanded that the government "recognizes the mistakes and rectify them before they generate a hopeless situation."
The police have repeatedly denied having committed any kind of abuse against detainees.
Today, Peruvian President Ollanta Humala called on the Catholic Church to mediate the conflict over the Conga project. Regional president Gregorio Santos, who has opposed the Conga mine, accepted the proposal.
The Conga project involves surface mining of a large copper porphyry deposit also containing gold located 24 kilometers northeast of the Yanacocha Gold Mine, also a joint venture between Newmont and Buenaventura.
On June 22, Newmont issued a statement pledging to "take a slower development approach focused on building water reservoirs before the construction of mining facilities."
"The reservoirs will supply water to downstream users who currently only have water flowing during the rainy season," the company said.
Following this announcement, President Humala expressed his strong support for the stalled Conga project. But Humala, a former military officer who values the mine for the jobs and tax revenues it will create, has said nothing about the violence this week, while his cabinet ministers suspended freedom of assembly and opposition lawmakers demanded that police restrain their attacks.
Following a three year, public process on the Conga project's Environmental Impact Assessment and reviews by 12 Peruvian government agencies, the EIA was approved by the Mines and Energy Ministry in October 2010.
Amidst protests from anti-mining activists in late 2011, Newmont suspended construction on the project.
Humala appointed a three-member panel to review the EIA, which confirmed in its April report that the mining plan "meets all the technical requirements for its approval" under Peruvian and international standards.
But the panel said, "Alternatives should be evaluated for the relocation of the mine tailings to try to avoid covering the Azul and Chica lakes."
The proposed destruction of the lakes is "motivating the rejection by society," the panel warned in its report.
The panel recommended that Newmont:
- evaluate the possibility of relocating the Perol pit waste dump to try to avoid impacting Azul and Chica lakes. If it is not technically and economically feasible to do so, implement an appropriate hydrological and environmental compensation plan.
- consider encapsulating the rejects of the acid water treatment plant in a secure deposit, and improve water availability through regulation of reservoirs.
- consider the possibility of using acid water treatment and refinement techniques through passive methods such as wetlands with reeds planting.
- study the suitability to expand the reservoirs' capacity to optimize the management of the water emanating from the project area.
- optimize the preservation conditions of organic soils coming from waste on the storage deposits planned and adequately preserve humic materials from the dismantling of the Perol bog for later use.
- Newmont has agreed to "progressively implement" these recommendations, but has not yet agreed to keep the Azul and Chica lakes intact.
"Once completed, the reservoirs will increase the water storage capacity proposed in Conga's original development plan, significantly increase the current capacity of the lakes in question and provide year-round availability of water to downstream users, something they don't currently have as a result of the dry season," the company says on its website.
Carlos Santa Cruz, Newmont's senior vice president for South American operations, said on June 22, "The construction of water reservoirs will contribute to strengthening our relationship with Cajamarca, while demonstrating that modern and responsible mining can protect the environment and improve quality of life within the area of influence of the Project through economic and infrastructure development."
"Progressing the Conga project will require fostering a suitable social environment, while improving the development cost structure to ensure that the project is economically viable," said Santa Cruz. "Accordingly, construction on the project will continue only if it can be done in a safe, socially and environmentally responsible manner with risk-adjusted returns that justify future investment."
"We share President Humala's appeal for dialogue," the Newmont executive said.
But instead of open dialogue, there is further evidence of Peruvian government censorship of mining critics. Earlier this month, a group of Peruvian filmmakers denounced government censorship of films that told of issues related to mining conflicts.
"We criticize the members of the Government to provide for these purposes, dabbling in censorship practices or policies, making decisions that violate human rights and threaten basic rules of democracy," they said in a statement.
The document states that the Ministry of Agriculture invited a group of filmmakers and documentarians to show their work on the series "Water: a heritage that circulated from hand to hand." However, six films were not shown because they had "images, sounds or texts on environmental pollution generated by mining or oil companies," the filmmakers said. The six films had all received national and international awards.
Said the filmmakers, "We criticize the representatives of mining and oil companies that use their power and influence to pressure citizens, media and governments to prevent circulate information about the real impacts of extractive businesses."
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four minutes actually. and the Rooterz ones are about right
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