China-owned Las Bambas fails to evict indigenous Peruvian community from mine
- The Fuerabamba and Huancuire groups earlier set up camp inside the mine, saying that previous commitments to them had not been honoured
- The company described the protesters as ‘armed with stones, Molotov cocktails and other weapons’, adding that security agents had been attacked and injured
At least one protesting indigenous community continued on Friday to occupy MMG’s Las Bambas copper mine in Peru as operations remained halted, the company and two community sources said, despite police operations to evict them.
Peru is the world’s No 2 copper producer and Chinese-owned Las Bambas is one of the world’s top miners of the red metal, supplying 2 per cent of global supply. The mine is key to Peru’s economy, accounting for 1 per cent of the Andean nation’s gross domestic product.
The company described the protesters as “armed with stones, Molotov cocktails and other weapons”, the company said in a statement, adding people had attacked security agents and that several of them had been hurt.
The indigenous communities of Fuerabamba and Huancuire entered the mine on April 14 and set up camp inside, forcing Las Bambas to suspend operations a week later. They allege the mine has not fully honoured previous commitments with them.
On Thursday, police forces tried but failed to evict Huancuire, while Fuerabamba was evicted earlier in the week but tried to re-enter the mine, according to representatives of both communities.