Latin America Update - Informe De Peru Support Group Sobre El Proyecto Río Blanco(monterrico Metals)
Published by MAC on 2007-03-31
Latin America update - Informe de Peru Support Group sobre el proyecto Río Blanco (Monterrico Metals) en Perú
31st March 2007
With last week's publication of a UK parliamentary report , criticising Monterrico Metals, a raft of civil society organisations has issued a declaration spotlighting the intolerable harassment of northern Peruvian communities which are critical of mining.
As reported on this website last week, Ecuador's government is planning reforms to mining laws in order to reduce social and environmental conflicts. The deputy mining minister says he wants to increase benefits for small-sclae miners. Meanwhile Ascendant Copper claims it has made an agreement with its erstwhile opponents in the Intag region. But, as Miningwatch Canada points out, the company has misrepresented the terms of the agreement, while the community is still insisting that Ascendant withdraw completely from their territory.
A civil suit has been lodged against Argentina's Alumbrera mine (majority-owned by Xstrata) to prevent continued use of an allegedly polluting minerals' pipeline.
Barrick Gold seems to have pulled out of its Famatina project in La Rioja in the face of a ban on new open-pit mining projects and the sudden resignation in mid-March of the provincial government's governor, after accusations of his corrupt relationship with the Canadian company.