Special Report - Social unrest in Latin America I - Mining (ISSN 17414474)

At the close of 2011 the public ombudsman’s office, Defensoría del Pueblo, reported that there were 149 active ‘social conflicts’ across Peru, of which 56 were about ‘socio-environmental’ issues. Among the most recent was the one that has since had the highest profile: the protest against Minera Yanacocha’s US$4.8bn Conga gold and copper project in Cajamarca, which is seen as threatening the surrounding area’s water supply through the displacement of four lakes.  The project was approved in 2010 and was scheduled to start producing in 2015; Yanacocha’s main shareholder is the US firm Newmont Mining.

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