The stand-off was over a planned $5bn investment by New-York listed Newmont Mining for one of the country’s largest open-pit gold and copper mines, Minas Conga. Local politicians and residents say the Conga mine, which is still at the construction stage, will harm the water supply. The company denies this. The total number of deaths is disputed. In July last year five people were confirmed killed but human rights and environmental activists say as many as 15 or 16 people have died since September 2011.
The government admits to more than 200 conflicts, with others reportedly bubbling just below the surface. Those that most often turn violent involve mining and increasingly focus on water use. They include not only Minas Conga but also Xstrata’s Tintaya-Antapaccay operations in the southern region of Cusco. And late last month some people were wounded in clashes between the police and local communities demanding the abandonment of Candente Copper’s CaƱariaco project in Lambayeque, northwestern Peru.
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