"A ONE-MONTH TRUCE AGREED AT LAS BAMBAS", 11 June 2022

...The conflict at Las Bambas continues to make headlines in the mining sector, with a high-level meeting in the last few days leading to an agreement on a suspension of protest, the lifting of the state of emergency and a restarting of production at the mine after more than 50 days of stoppage.

...[A] number of communities are still opposing the extension of the project, seeing it as a threat to their livelihoods. By the end of last week, the tension had been growing to the extent that Defence Minister José Luis Gavidia was quoted as saying he was “ready to launch a military operation that would remove the protesting communities from the mine”. At the same time, discontent was fast growing among the micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises and among those mine workers left unemployed.

By this week, however, a meeting headed by the Justice Minister Felix Chero reached an agreement with the communities and the company that would lead to a month’s lifting of the blockade, the suspension of the state of emergency, the re-starting of production, and the establishment of dialogue roundtables. Various other ministers took part in the talks.

The truce will run to 20 July when the various parties will meet again to evaluate progress. The company says it plans to meet individually with each of the six communities to look for what it calls a “sustainable solution”...