Peru mining consortium puts project on hold

A US-Peruvian mining company has put a multibillion dollar project on hold following local protests.

Operations at the Conga mine were due to start in 2015 but people living in the area say it will destroy their water supply.

The future of four mountain lakes of the country are at stake. People in the region depend on them for drinking water and irrigation. The mine project would involve emptying the lakes and replacing them with a reservoir.

Mariana Sanchez reports from Cajamarca.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• americasnews
• al jazeera
• aljazeera

[marek007able]

I am Peruvian and pro inversion and in this case I support the protesters. They should first make an study of impact, and ask the people, before just selling land.

A major point not considered here is that this protests have been fuelled by the president himself. During campaign his talks were just bullshit, he sounded more like a head of unions. Always against foreign investors.He changed his mind dramatically.

Politicians... same everywhere...

[peruanoclandestino1]

@cj66767 Youre full of shit and stupid for bedeviling that.

[cj66767]

So you all know the environmental studies done show that the lakes in that area have no drinking water as of right now. The mining company as part of the contract will make the water drinkable for people and animals. The ones promoting the protest are not people from the area but politicians from the left that want control of the area. 2 billion of dollars invested in Peru will produce work, but the propaganda by some will ruin others.

[foresakenlion]

Reservoirs, LOL... no mining involves toxic poisonous heavy metals, like LITHIUM in GOLD MINING, they don't TALK ABOUT THE TOXIC CHEMICALS, which they won't pay to clean up nor for the babies mutating, or the people that die of cancer.

[Schwyndfst]

We need to kick put the left form Peru, I suspect Dar al Islam would fit their world view better

[TheWorldInsider]

They need to kick them out of the country too ..........and stop this exploitation !!!!!!

[mphailey]

@baltao08 Yes of course. You are correct in your analysis across the board. I just disagree with violence as a solution to this problem. But, go ahead: use and encourage violence if you want to. Just watch out for retaliation and/or unintended consequences of violence.

[baltao08]

@mphailey I would like to comment on MSM by the way. I think that stateless whistle-blower platforms such as Wikileaks can make the most out of the cracks in MSM. A corporate created "democratic" forum like MSM in the US is usually an arm of Empire. Aside from kowtowing to the whims of politicos, it always operates on filters that are advantageous to the company's cost-benefit analysis framework (so Chomskian!). But I think that Wikileaks and Al Jazeera are effective in challenging this.

[mphailey]

@baltao08 The institutionalized users of violence control the MSM as well. Any police officer or military person injured or killed in a violent protest will be played up and used to disparage the protesters and their cause. I don't think violence would help bring someone to the negotiating table because the more powerful side always has more leverage when it comes to the use of violence. IMHO, the first images of #OWS protesters getting brutalized helped to galvanize their cause. peace

[baltao08]

@mphailey FARC and Shining Path fell short because they wanted to overthrow the state and establish a communist regime. I would agree with you that such aims are bound to end up in vain. My question is: Don't you think that tactics used by this group can be effective in certain instances because force can bring your adversary to the negotiating table? The NPA in the Philippines drove away some American bases, Hezbollah freed South Lebanon from Israel. Respect to you too @mphailey